Hey everyone! Your Seoul correspondent is back with some piping hot tea, and this time it’s about a company every single person in Korea uses: Coupang.
For my friends back in the States, think of Coupang as Amazon on steroids. They’re famous for their ‘Rocket Delivery’ (로켓배송), which gets you almost anything you can imagine delivered by the next morning, sometimes even in just a few hours. It’s a lifesaver! But right now, they’re in the middle of a massive scandal that has everyone talking.
The Apology That Was Actually an Ad
So, Coupang did something that required a formal apology (the specifics of the original issue are a whole other story, but the apology itself is the main event here). They posted an official apology letter on their site. Standard corporate stuff, right? Wrong!
Here’s where it gets wild. People who tried to share the link to the apology on social media or in chat apps noticed something super sketchy. Instead of showing a preview of the apology letter, the link generated a splashy banner ad that said things like ‘Unbelievable Special Prices!’ It literally looked like they were using their own apology to lure people into shopping. The internet immediately exploded, accusing Coupang of being completely insincere and using a moment of supposed reflection for shameless marketing.
Enter “Tal-pang”: The Great Coupang Exodus
As you can imagine, Koreans were NOT having it. A huge movement started online, coining a new term: **’탈팡’ (Tal-pang)**. ‘Tal’ (탈) comes from the word for ‘escape’ or ‘to leave,’ and ‘Pang’ (팡) is from Coupang. So it literally means “to escape Coupang.”
And people followed through! According to news reports, in the four days following the discovery, an estimated **1.81 million people** either deleted their Coupang accounts or uninstalled the app from their phones. That is a massive number and a huge statement from consumers.
Why This Was Such a Big Deal
In Korea, a formal, public apology (사과문, sagwamun) is taken very seriously. It’s supposed to be a sincere admission of wrongdoing and a promise to do better. To see a company turn that solemn act into a cheap clickbait ad felt like a major betrayal of trust. It showed a complete lack of respect for their customers and the situation.
People felt like Coupang wasn’t sorry for their mistake, but sorry they got caught, and were now trying to profit from the drama. It’s a classic case of the cover-up being worse than the crime. Coupang has since fixed the link issue and re-apologized for the… well, for the apology ad, but the damage to their reputation is already done. We’ll have to see if they can win back the trust of the millions who just joined the ‘Tal-pang’ movement.
