According to a brand reputation analysis of individual girl group members for October 2024, BLACKPINK’s Jennie took the top spot, followed by aespa’s Karina in second place and IVE’s Jang Won Young in third.

However, the members of NewJeans, who have been facing ongoing conflicts with their agency, HYBE, have notably fallen out of the top 100 rankings. The NewJeans members have consistently been at the top of the rankings, and member Minji ranked first overall in brand reputation at the end of last year.

On October 22, a post surfaced on BLIND, an anonymous office worker community, stating, "NewJeans, the top girl group, has dropped out of the October brand reputation rankings," expressing concern over the sudden decline.

The Korean Corporate Reputation Research Institute analyzed by extracting 135,672,895 pieces of brand data from 680 individual girl group members between September 20 and October 20. The data was used to create a brand reputation index based on consumer behavior, participation, media coverage, communication, and community engagement.

Brand reputation is a metric created from online consumer habits that influence brand consumption. Through this analysis, positive and negative evaluations of individual brands, media interest, and consumer engagement are assessed.

The top 30 girl group members for October included:

Jennie (BLACKPINK)

Karina (aespa)

Jang Won Young (IVE)

Lisa (BLACKPINK)

Hwa Sa (MAMAMOO)

Winter (aespa)

An Yu Jin (IVE)

Taeyeon (Girls' Generation)

Jiwon (Cignature)

Rosé (BLACKPINK)

Kim Chae Won (LE SSERAFIM)

Jisoo (BLACKPINK)

Sullyoon (NMIXX)

Irene (Red Velvet)

Rei (IVE)

Natty (KISS OF LIFE)

Gaeul (IVE)

Nayeon (TWICE)

Mina (TWICE)

Momo (TWICE)

NewJeans' drop in rankings was noticeable after a press conference held by their former CEO, Min Hee Jin, where she expressed her grievances towards HYBE's Chairman, Bang Si Hyuk, and the company’s executives. 

NewJeans' ranking first fell to 10th place in April, 29th in May, and 48th in June, despite their comeback in Korea and debut in Japan. By September, they had completely dropped out of the rankings.

Additionally, NewJeans' member Hanni recently testified as a reference at the National Assembly audit on October 15, speaking about workplace harassment. This marked the first time a current K-pop idol testified at a national audit. Hanni expressed frustration over not being acknowledged by senior executives, including Bang Si Hyuk, and shared her experiences of being ignored.

Despite these challenges, NewJeans was named the top girl group in the 2024 Brand of the Year awards held by the Korea Consumer Forum last month in September and remains active as models for brands like Shinhan Investment Corp. and Lotte Wellfood.

SEE ALSO: HYBE omits NewJeans' full album release in their latest plan for Q4 2024