GS fires senior exec. over alleged sexist marketing

By Kim Jae-heun

Former GS Retail President Cho Yoon-sung

Local retail firm GS Retail demoted its President Cho Yoon-sung and transferred its marketing chief from their positions for releasing an ad-poster that contained allegedly sexist content. GS Retail Vice President Oh Jin-seong has replaced Cho as of Tuesday.

Cho, who had been leading both GS25's convenience store chain and platform business units until Monday, is now only leading the latter.

The marketing chief was transferred to a different team.

The company also took disciplinary action against the staff member who designed the promotional material.

“The punishment was given privately so we don't know what kind of disciplinary action was taken against the designer,” a GS Retail official said. “Cho has been removed from the president position of the convenience store chain as part of the company's regular personnel realignment.”

The retail company's decision came almost a month after Cho apologized over the controversial poster showing a drawing of a hand trying to grab a small sausage between finger and thumb. The hand gesture depicted in the material closely resembles a gesture used by misandrists belonging to the radical feminist online community Megalia to express hatred towards men.

“We downloaded an image for the poster after browsing a paid website with the keywords camping and healing. However, we failed to recognize that the design could cause a social issue. Everyone including me will undergo a thorough investigation and will face disciplinary action according to the firm's regulations,” Cho said on May 3.

However, the public anger did not subside and people started to boycott GS25 while posting an online petition on Cheong Wa Dae's official website to withdraw GS25 stores from military facilities. The petition garnered over 101,000 supporters.

According to some GS25 owners, their sales at the convenience store between May 10 and 16 after the controversy arose dropped by 10 percent to 20 percent compared to sales for the same period in April.

Meanwhile, GS Retail's stock price soared by 5.37 percent on Monday after Cho was removed from the position. The retail firm's stock finished trading at 39,250 won on the day. It is the first time GS Retail's stock price surpassed 39,000 won since March 26.

The company's decision to take disciplinary action against the president and employees involved in the controversy appears to have had a positive impact on its stock price.