"If you recruit on Danggeun, only secondhand sellers will come"
Deleting critical comments worsens online sentiment
20,000 subscribers lost... 40,000 'dislikes'
The cooking YouTuber 'Seungwoo Appa,' who has 1.65 million subscribers, is facing growing controversy after making negative remarks about the secondhand trading platform Danggeun Market. Amid this, Seungwoo Appa's YouTube channel lost more than 20,000 subscribers within three days, and his videos have been bombarded with tens of thousands of 'dislikes.'
According to YouTube on the 6th, Seungwoo Appa's subscriber count dropped from 1.67 million on February 3rd to 1.65 million on the same day, losing nearly 20,000 subscribers in three days.
The controversy began when Seungwoo Appa posted a video on the 1st visiting the internet broadcaster 'Subingsu's' restaurant to give startup advice. When Subingsu mentioned that they had posted a job advertisement on Danggeun Market, Seungwoo Appa remarked, "If you post it on Danggeun, only secondhand people will come," implying that people seeking jobs on Danggeun Market are like 'secondhand' items.
In response, Danggeun Market commented on the video, saying, "Seungwoo Appa, you can find part-time jobs on Danggeun too." They added, "Many business owners are already using it for quick neighborhood-based matching, so if you open a second branch of your restaurant, please try using Danggeun Alba." It appears they responded out of concern that Seungwoo Appa's remarks might cause misunderstandings about Danggeun Market's job recruitment services.
A scene from the video "Subingsu-nim, You Will Ruin Your Restaurant If You Do This," posted by Seungwoo Appa on the 1st. (Photo by Seungwoo Appa, YouTube video capture)
However, Seungwoo Appa expressed displeasure about Danggeun Market's comment during a subsequent internet broadcast. He said, "Don't do free advertising. Seriously. You have no conscience... I'm really going to delete the comment." He also reiterated the problematic statement, saying, "I didn't mean it in a good way, Danggeun officials. Of course, I know about the function to find people on Danggeun, but with my old-fashioned common sense, I find it hard to accept that job recruitment is done on Danggeun Market. Somehow, people seem like secondhand items."
This remark instead sparked backlash from netizens. Comments mocking Seungwoo Appa's statement appeared under the video, such as "Why are people on Danggeun secondhand?" and "I worked part-time through Danggeun, so I guess I was secondhand."
As comments under the video began to be deleted in real time, the criticism intensified. Netizens have been posting critical messages on other recent videos of Seungwoo Appa and on online communities.
Additionally, videos on Seungwoo Appa's channel have been hit with a 'dislike' bomb. The controversial video titled 'Subingsu, You’ll Ruin Your Restaurant If You Do This' has received over 34,000 dislikes, far exceeding the 19,000 likes. The next video, 'I Got a Job at McDonald's and Tried the New Menu,' received over 40,000 dislikes. Previously, the number of dislikes per video rarely exceeded a few hundred.
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