| Date of response | Entity | Details |
| May 1, 2021 | GS25 | See § Origin and spread |
| May 2, 2021 | National Police Agency | In light of the GS25 controversies, a promotional flyer of the Road Traffic Act posted by Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency was met with decry from theorists. The flyer contained a hand pointing to its phrase. The police explained in a subsequent announcement that the hand is to emphasize the news and, to avoid confusion, promised it would withdraw the flyers and replace them. |
| May 7, 2021 | Genesis BBQ | In May 2021, Genesis BBQ received condemnation from theorists for featuring a pinch finger in its advertising poster, where a hand picked up a sausage with its fingers. The company apologized on May 7 and suspended distribution of the poster. |
| Kyochon | Kyochon's fried chicken advertisement came under scrutiny when its social media posts featured an image that depicted two fingers grabbing its product, which was found by theorists offensive due to resembling the pinch finger. Kyochon denied any intention of misandry, but removed the image nonetheless. |
| May 3, 2021 | Musinsa | On April 26, 2021, Musinsa commenced a collaborative event with Hyundai Card and posted a promotional flyer in which both hands were grasping a wallet and a credit card. This caused a turmoil in male-centric internet forums, which found the flyer similar to "Megalia hands." Musinsa initially published an announcement on May 3 that the flyer is meant to symbolize barter. This wasn't the first time Musinsa was accused of misandry, as the company issued coupons for female customers in March 2021, only for it to cancel them when the promotion was criticized for being a "reverse discrimination" against men, with its president Cho Manho giving an apology on social media. On June 3, Cho Manho announced he would step down from president, taking full responsibility of aforementioned two incidents. |
| Emart | Emart24 announced a promotional event to win a prize on May 1, 2021, and posted a related poster. The poster, where a man was shown pointing to stars with his hand, was met with uproar from the theorists due to resembling pinch finger, spurring Emart to remove the hand on May 3. |
| May 17, 2021 | Pyeongtaek | In May 2021, the Pyeongtaek city hall received online protest when it distributed a poster for competition, which included an image of a group of people, one of which was found offensive by the finger pinching theorists due to having a hand gesture similar to "misandry fingers." The poster was created by the same company that made the one for GS25. A city hall official spoke on May 17 that they apologized for upsetting the theorists and decided to discard the existing copies, having to reprint approximately 32 banners, 200 posters, and 4,000 flyers. The original poster cost ₩2,800,000. In August 2021, the Pyeongtaek city hall was condemned by theorists again when it shared a guide on social media about how to prepare for heat waves in the area, which included an illustration of a farmer wiping his sweat with a hand gesture that allegedly looked like a pinch finger. The city hall reacted by removing the guide. |
| MMTG | On May 13, 2021, Jaejae, the producer of SBS program MMTG, participated in the Baeksang Arts Awards and ate a chocolate bar on red carpet as impromptu performance, which was publicly broadcast on television. Finger pinching theorists took issues with her action, as picking up the chocolate bar with fingers was seen as an act of misandry. The production team behind MMTG denied the rumor and suggested to stop spreading controversies without proofs. A petition on the Blue House website was launched to ban Jaejae from appearing on television. More than 91,000 people had signed on it. Jaejae later described her experience dealing with finger pinching theories at the time to have been stressful. |
| May 25, 2021 | Rankingdak | Rankingdak's wrapping paper caused controversies for featuring a hand pointing at taglines, which looked like finger pinching to theorists. The company apologized and promised to change the design on May 25. |
| May 27, 2021 | KakaoBank | KakaoBank apologized for implying misandry with its promotional material, which had a woman pointing at her cellphone. |
| Ministry of National Defense | On May 22 and 26, Ministry of National Defense uploaded announcements about its welfare system on its social media, which contained images of soldiers doing a salute. This was considered a controversial move by theorists, as the images had what is perceived as pinch fingers. Its spokesperson Bu Seungchan officially apologized on May 27 during its regular briefing, for causing a "certain misunderstanding and controversy." The ministry removed all of the images on June 9. |
| June 7, 2021 | War Memorial of Korea | On June 6, 2021, theorists protested against the War Memorial of Korea through its website board, claiming one of its facilities is featuring a finger pinching gesture on its dedicated photo spot. Theorists argued that a Megalia user has assimilated the organization to present the pinch finger gesture and must be relieved from their position immediately, despite the fact that said work was on display since 2012 or 2013, predating Megalia's establishment in 2015. Nevertheless, an official apologized to the theorists on the next day and removed the work. |
| July 25, 2021 | Starbucks | Starbucks RTD published an advertisement on Instagram about an upcoming summer event on July 25, 2021, in which there was a shadow of a hand grabbing its product. This drew uproar from internet forums that considered it too similar to the finger pinch. Starbucks RTD pulled the ad later that day and issued an apology. |
| August 6, 2021 | Ministry of the Interior and Safety | A poster distributed by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety drew ire from theorists in August 2021 as it featured an image of a man shutting a window, whose pose was claimed to promote misandry. On August 6, the ministry apologized for causing misandry controversy and removed the image. On October 26, 2021, theorists rallied additional campaign as another poster was subject to similar hand controversy; the ministry accepted the accusation on October 27 and apologized as well. |
| August 26, 2021 | Smilegate | In August 2021, Smilegate's MMORPG Lost Ark received accusations of featuring the offensive hand gesture. One of its avatar icons was an "OK sign," with an index finger nearly touching a thumb, which some of Lost Ark began claiming was a sexist insult against men. This icon has been in the game since March 2018, but the publisher quickly complied with the demands for removal, promising to policy "game-unrelated controversies" in their products. In November 2023, in light of Nexon's public condemnations against Studio Ppuri's animatic works, Smilegate's Epic Seven faced an accusation that its promotional trailer, also worked by Ppuri, contained pinch fingers. The director Kim Yunha announced in the following statement that he's ordered to take down related promotional videos and conduct a thorough investigation. |
| July 19, 2022 | Line | In July 2022, Line was accused of promoting misandry by theorists because, when they typed "small" in its text prompt, the software recommended the finger pinching emoji via autocorrection. The Line development team denied the rumor when it talked to The Chosun Ilbo about the matter. |
| November 26, 2023 | Nexon | See § MapleStory scandal |
| Kakao Games | Kakao Games announced on November 26, 2023, that Eternal Return has removed its opening animation produced by Ppuri following the MapleStory scandal. |
| November 28, 2023 | Posco | In August 2023, Posco uploaded an animated employee recruitment video on its official YouTube channel. On November 28, 2023, the video came under fire from the theorists for featuring multiple incidents of finger pinching gesture. Posco took down the video without publishing a statement on the same day. |
| December 7, 2023 | Ministry of Health and Welfare | The Ministry of Health and Welfare distributed a poster for the 2023 Medical Scientist Conference, which caused uproar from theorists as it featured an image of a woman pointing a finger and therefore implies misandry. The ministry announced on December 7 that the image was created by a British company on April 24, 2021, and had nothing to do with the finger pinching, but it nonetheless replaced the poster with a new one. |
| June 30, 2024 | Renault | In June 2024, Renault Korea Motors, the Korean unit of French auto group, revealed showcase videos on its corporate YouTube channel. The videos were accused by theorists as implying misandry, as they allegedly featured multiple incidents of a female employee doing a finger pinching hand gesture. Renault Korea blocked public access to the videos on June 30 and wrote it sincerely apologize to everyone who felt discomfort due to its recent internal promotional content. The female employee in the video issued an apology on June 29 on the YouTube channel's community, saying she was aware that a certain hand gesture was problematic, but didn't know her presentation in the video could be interpreted that way. She added that she didn't do it on purpose, and asked the protesters to stop name-calling her. The apology was shortly deleted that day. There were reportedly internal complaints against Renault's handling of the incident and the employee herself; the company later claimed it had issued a suspension on her. The Korea Herald reported that Renault mishandled apology because it underestimated the gravity of the issue. The employee was subject to online harassment shortly afterwards, with doxing and death threats against her reported. Renault Korea president Stephane Deblaise announced on July 3 that the company acknowledged the situation and would open a personnel committee with experts to discuss it. |
| July 1, 2024 | Volvo Cars | A Korean Volvo employee posted on Blind that there is an unpleasant display of pinch fingers in Volvo posters from June 2024. They were presented by theorists as proof of feminists "ruining the automotive industry". Volvo Korea removed the posters that day. |
| July 6, 2024 | Binggrae | Prior to controversies, Binggrae was running an advertising campaign featuring Binggraeus, a brand character based on its corporate image. Binggrae pulled the original promotion off in December 2023, and later replaced it with a new character design that depicts Binggraeus' hands as flat circles. This change was interpreted by news media as a corporate decision to conform to the theorists. |
| July 15, 2024 | Hyundai Heavy Industries union | On July 12, 2024, the union of Hyundai Heavy Industries published an article in its newsletter, which condemned its company's alleged use of finger-pinching on its outdoor signage. The newsletter claimed that feminists were suffering from "mental leprosy" and must be locked up in asylum. |
| August 21, 2024 | Ministry of Employment and Labor | On August 2, 2024, the Ministry of Labor and Employment released public materials that detailed safety hazards and warned fatal fall. The ministry received complaints over the safety infographic for the worker's hand resembling the finger pinching, and announced on August 21 that the image was revised. |
| August 23, 2024 | Korean Red Cross | A poster created by Korean Red Cross' Gyeongnam branch drew controversies from theorists, who argued that a female soldier's salute resembled the finger pinching and evoked misandry. After protests through Anti-corruption and Civil Rights Commission website, Red Cross official announced that the organization scrapped the prints, and apologized for images that could cause misunderstanding. |
| August 30, 2024 | Gwangju Nambu Police Station | On August 27, 2024, the Gwangju police station created a poster for prevention of deepfake sexual crime, and distributed it to schools within the city. It caused outrage for what is perceived by theorists as the finger pinching hands in the image. The police announced an official statement on August 30 that the poster was withdrawn and would be replaced with new one. |
| September 6, 2024 | Seoul Milk | Dairy cooperative Seoul Milk started a promotional event on September 3, 2024, looking for potential influencers to recruit for its product marketing. One of the guidelines in the notice was to "avoid a hand gesture that can cause controversies when you grab products or open yogurt", which meant the "misandry hand gesture", as later confirmed by Seoul Milk official. The event became controversial on social media for allegedly appeasing the finger pinching theorists. Seoul Milk revised the notice to remove the line on September 6. |
| October 10, 2024 | Hyundai Motor Company | In 2023, Hyundai has uploaded a series of videos named Electric Car How-TO, providing guides for the company's all-electric vehicle models. In October 2024, theorists alleged that the one posted in March 2023 featured the finger pinching. Hyundai took down all of Electric Car How-TO videos and apologized with an announcement that the company would tighten up self-censorship on its contents. |
| September 9, 2025 | Apple Inc. | In 2025, Apple unveiled its new models of iPhone lineup, including the iPhone Air. A promotional image featured a hand holding the iPhone Air to emphasize its thinness. In South Korean version of it, the hand was removed, with just the device shown. News media speculated the change was made to avoid antifeminist backlash. |
