Endorsements
In 2015, BTS became brand ambassadors for PUMA. In 2016, Nexon released character avatars based on the members for their RPG game Elsword. That year, they topped the 'Boy Group Brand Power Ranking' published by the Korean Corporate Reputation Research Institute for 9 out of 12 months, and were the boy group with the highest brand reputation.
In 2017, BTS were chosen as the honorary tourism ambassadors for Seoul as part of the 'I Seoul U' program. The group filmed an advertisement produced by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which was subsequently aired in over 100 countries. The promotional song, "With Seoul" was released online on December 6, and the music video on December 13. They were also chosen as the new brand models for Lotte Duty Free Shop. Later that year, BTS collaborated with popular Korean communication app Line, creating new Line 'characters based on the group, called BT21, that serve as emojis, stickers, clothing, and more.
Expanding their endorsements overseas, BTS worked with Japanese department store 109 to promote their eighth Japanese single, "Mic Drop/DNA/Crystal Snow", through a Christmas campaign, announced in October 2017, that used "Crystal Snow" as the image song for the collaboration. Pop-up shops selling various original and limited edition BTS merchandise were opened at four different locations: the flagship Shibuya 109 store, and then at the Osaka, Kagoshima, and Fukuoka branches. On December 17, Yahoo! Japan announced BTS as the promotional models for Yahoo WiFi, with a special sign-up campaign that launched on January 29, 2018.
On February 27, 2018, BTS were announced as global brand ambassadors for Puma, with Puma launching the remix of their 'Turin' line on March 2 in Korea and worldwide in July in celebration of this. The group will also feature in global campaigns for Puma's Sportstyle line as well. In March, they were announced as the new brand spokespersons for KB Kookmin Bank, one of the top four largest banks in South Korea. On April 3, LG Electronics announced that BTS would "promote its smartphones in the global market" for the tech company, including an upcoming flagship model tentatively scheduled for unveiling by June 2018. On April 29, news media revealed that Coca-Cola Korea, had signed BTS on as their new campaign models, with promotional activities commencing in June in time for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Philanthrophy
BTS have involved themselves in a variety of charitable events. In 2015, they donated seven tons (7,187 kg) of rice to charity at the K-Star Road opening ceremony held in Apgujeong-dong. The following year they participated in ALLETS's "Let's Share the Heart" collaboration charity campaign with Naver to raise donations for LISA, a charity "which carries forward a preparation business to fight blindess including research on degenerative retina disease treatment and an activity to improve social awareness on the visually impaired.
In January 2017, news media reported that BTS and Big Hit Entertainment had donated KR₩100,000,000 (US$85,000) to the 4/16 Sewol Families for Truth and A Safer Society, an organization connected to the families of the 2014 Sewol Ferry Disaster. Each member donated KR₩10,000,000 and Big Hit Entertainment donated an additional KR₩30,000,000. The donation was intended to have been made in secret. Later that year, BTS officially launched their Love Myself campaign, an initiative dedicated to helping "protect and support child and teen victims of domestic and school violence as well as sexual assault around the world...", in partnership with the Korean Committee for UNICEF. BTS donated 500 million won (US$448,000) from the members, and 100% of all sales of official goods for the Love Myself campaign over the next two years, as well as include donation desks installed by UNICEF, towards several social programs benefiting violence prevention against children and teens and support programs for victims of violence. In addition, 3% of the sales from each album in the Love Yourself series (Love Yourself, Love Yourself:Tear,and Love Yourself:Answer) will be donated to the cause. Within two months of its launch the campaign raised an additional KR₩106,000,000, taking the worldwide funds total to KR₩606,000,000.
In April 2018, BTS participated in Stevie Wonder's "Dream Still Lives" tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. alongside other celebrities, sharing their dreams and hopes for the world. It was revealed that Stevie wonder himself had asked BTS to participate in the campaign.
Members of the group have also engaged in individual philanthropic endeavours. Jimin supported graduates of Busan Hoedong Elementary School, his alma mater, by covering uniform expenses from 2016 until its closure in 2018. After news of the school's closing was released, he donated summer and winter middle school uniforms to the final graduates and gifted autographed albums to the entire student body. For his 25th birthday, Suga donated signed albums, as well as ten kilograms of Korean beef, to each of 39 orphanages in Korea under the name of "ARMY", BTS' fandom.
Sources:Wikipedia.com
