BTS, aka Bangtan Sonyeondan, 방탄소년단, or the Bangtan Boys, is a seven-man boy band from Seoul. Performing, writing, and producing together since 2010, They’ve evolved from hip hop to a diverse pop-influenced style, trading heavily on the trials of personal growth and coming of age for material. Massively popular in South Korea, they used Youtube to leap into the international music market in 2017. Since then, 4 albums have topped the US music charts in the fastest rise since the Beatles. Globally, they were the second-best selling artists of 2018, and as of 2019, the group is reported to be worth 0.3 percent of South Korea’s Gross Domestic Product.
Their popularity and financial success have given the band a platform that they haven’t shied away from using. In 2017, they launched their Love Myself campaign with the aid of UNICEF, funding social programs to reduce violence against children and teenagers and to support victims of violence. The members of the band donated approximately $500,000 personally, and two years of all proceeds from the campaign’s merchandise sales. By 2019, the campaign had raised over $2 million.
Other philanthropic efforts included another partnership with UNICEF, their “Generation Unlimited” fundraiser to support continuing education for at-risk youth, and “Be the Brightest Stars,” a Starbucks initiative which raised money toward career support for disadvantaged Korean youths.
On June 6, BTS’s members revealed that they had donated $1 million to Black Lives Matter, the international human rights movement addressing violence and authoritarian racism against black people. It was, at the time, one of the largest celebrity donations to come in the aftermath of the murder by police of George Floyd. The popular band’s army of fans were swift to match their donation, raising another $1 million for BLM under the hashtags #MatchAMillion and #MatchtheMillion. The fans also used their numbers to take over and drown out #WhiteOutWednesday, a tone-deaf or outright racist response to the black day of visibility, #BlackoutTuesday.
Source: CNN