McDonald's, an official sponsor of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, is running a limited-edition World Cup cup promotion at stores worldwide. But Korean consumers cannot get the cup featuring Son Heung-min, captain of South Korea's national soccer team, fueling growing curiosity.
According to the retail industry on Thursday, McDonald's headquarters has selected nine world-class soccer stars and is offering limited-edition cups featuring their designs at global stores to mark the World Cup. McDonald's Korea has also adopted the promotion, giving away cups featuring images of World Cup stars.
However, while the cup lineup offered at domestic stores includes overseas stars such as France's Kylian Mbappé and Brazil's Neymar, the cup featuring Son Heung-min, captain of South Korea's national soccer team, is absent.
Meanwhile, consumers overseas have been posting photos verifying that they received Son Heung-min cups. In response, Korean online communities and social media have seen reactions such as "Only in Korea can you not get a Son Heung-min cup" and "You can actually get Son Heung-min merchandise overseas."
The reason Son Heung-min's cup was excluded in Korea is reportedly related to advertising contracts.
Son currently serves as a brand model for numerous companies in Korea's food and restaurant industries. In particular, he is an exclusive model for Domino's Pizza, a competitor in the restaurant industry, and also serves as an advertising model for Lotte Wellfood's World Cone and HiteJinro's Terra.
The industry explains that under Korean advertising contract practices, clauses restricting an exclusive model of a particular brand from being exposed in a competitor's marketing are often included. For this reason, even though the promotion was created by global headquarters, distributing cups bearing Son Heung-min's likeness in Korea could create grounds for legal disputes related to advertising contracts.
Ultimately, McDonald's Korea is interpreted to have avoided legal risk by maintaining the global promotion while excluding Son Heung-min's cup only from domestic supply.
"Since Son Heung-min is a model with an exclusive position in the domestic restaurant market, McDonald's Korea likely made a realistic choice to completely block the possibility of legal disputes with competitors," an industry official said. "As a star's global influence grows, paradoxical cases where domestic and overseas marketing lineups are applied differently may increase."
