Fair trade body bans sexualizing teen stars

The popularity of boy- and girl- bands like Girls’ Generation is pushing K-pop to new heights, but there are also increasing concerns over the sexualization of young celebrities. / Korea Times file

By Kim Tong-hyung

Government officials are attempting to prevent the revealing styles of teenage pop idols as they warn against the media’s portrayal of young women as sex objects.

The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) Friday announced a new guideline for standard contract terms between production companies and artists, which include preventing underage singers from dressing in excessively sexual clothing. Management shouldn’t deprive the boys and girls in showbiz from their educational opportunities either, the FTC said, and needs to protect them from long working hours.

It bears further watching whether the proposed standards will result in any real improvement in the treatment of young artists. The FTC’s guideline is just that it is up to the management companies to either adopt the suggestions or simply ignore them.

And as for problems related to sexualizing young celebrities, the FTC avoided specifying how ``excessive’’ should be defined. And the guideline doesn’t say whether companies should seek the consent of singers and their parents or guardians over the use of overly-mature outfits. Nor does it mention cosmetic surgery.

``The existence of the standard contract terms will provide a base for young artists and their parents to fight back against management companies over sexualization and deprivation of school hours. The guideline also benefits entertainment agencies in resisting inappropriate demands from broadcasters,’’ said an official from the FTC’s consumer policy division, while admitting that the proposal is far from a solution.

``We believe that this guideline does have declaratory meaning as lawmakers continue to debate the specifics of a protection law on teenage entertainers that was first proposed in December last year,’’ she said.

The popularity of boy and girl bands has been driving the rapid growth of Korea’s pop industry, which enjoys immense popularity in Asia and has now set its sights on the United States and Europe. However, the boom has also been accompanied by mounting concern over the sexualization of young girls.

``No one would argue that the young entertainers should have their rights to study and rest protected. But there is no possible way to decide what is excessively sexual and what is not, especially when many of the bands are trained specifically for an international audience,’’ said a spokesman from one entertainment agency.

Last week’s successful Paris performance of Korean pop groups that included Girls’ Generation and Super Junior has the domestic media excited about a possible ``Western invasion,’’ but the journalistic response in Europe was mixed, voicing admiration and discomfort.

Le Monde, the influential French daily, observed that the K-pop stars were groomed as export items with support from a Korean government that is desperate to promote a young and dynamic image of the country. The newspaper also noted that Korean management companies haven’t been shy about having their young stars undergo plastic surgery.

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