Star-studded campaign trails? No such thing in this election
Jeon In-kwon, lead vocalist of the rock band Deulgukwha, poses at a restaurant in central Seoul on April 18 during a news conference to preview his concerts slated for May 6 and 7. The singer later canceled the May 7 concert for poor ticket sales following threats from some supporters of presidential candidate Moon Jae-in to boycott his concert. The singer drew the ire of some Moon supports for his open support for Moon’s rival Ahn Cheol-soo. / Yonhap
Celebrities forgo presidential endorsements for online extremists
Kang Hyun-kyung
Jeon In-kwon, lead vocalist of the folk rock band Deulgukwha, reaffirmed his unwavering support for presidential hopeful Ahn Cheol-soo, amid unusually low celebrity presidential endorsements.
“Ahn and his wife are nice and thoughtful,” he wrote on Facebook on Monday to make his endorsement public. “I’ve supported Mr. Ahn for five years and my friends and acquaintances already know this. I didn’t make it public, though.”
His presidential endorsement came days after his support for Ahn drew a backlash from hardcore supporters of frontrunner candidate Moon Jae-in.
During a press conference on April 18 to promote his concerts slated for May 6 and 7 at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in central Seoul, Jeon said Ahn is Korea’s Steve Jobs.
“Just like Apple’s founder Steve Jobs, Ahn is a man who likes to be perfect,” Jeon said.
Ahn founded the venture company AhnLab in 1995, years after he developed the antivirus software V3, and he has since been depicted as one of the early computer geeks who created a venture boom in this country.
“I met him in person years ago and realized a person like him will never be greedy or corrupt,” said Jeon.
His remarks invited a slew of criticisms from some Moon supporters and they threatened to boycott his forthcoming concerts. They branded the veteran singer an icon of “jeokpei” or part of the forces to be removed. The term became in vogue after the Choi Soon-sil scandal which cut President Park Geun-hye’s tenure short.
People use the buzzword when mentioning a group of corrupt, greedy people who put their personal interests ahead of policy priorities just as Choi and her colluders did.
“You’re not in a position to make such comments,” a Moon supporter posted in an internet forum to criticize the singer who served a jail term in 2008 on drug charges.
Other Moon supporters said they were fans of the group but became disappointed by the lead vocalist and would ask for refunds of their tickets.
The boycott warning became a reality. Earlier, Jeon, 62, announced he was going to have two concerts but ended up scrapping the May 7 event. In a press release on Tuesday, Deulkukwha Company mentioned poor ticket sales as a reason behind the cancellation and added they would refund those who already purchased tickets for the May 7 concert.
The embattled singer, however, became a hero for Ahn supporters. They said they respect the singer for his courage to speak publicly about his endorsement for Ahn as the next president. “His personal trait of standing against injustice seemed to cause him to find some common ground with Ahn,” some Ahn supporters wrote. Jeon and his band were described as icons of resistance against dictatorship in the 1980s when pro-democracy activism reached its peak, as their songs were widely used during the popular protests.
In this election, Jeon has become a rare outspoken celebrity who publicly endorsed a presidential candidate as the next president. In previous elections, celebrity endorsements were common and some high-profile entertainers accompanied their favorite candidates on the campaign trail across the nation to attract more voters to their rallies.
Celebrities joined presidential campaigns to improve their rights and working conditions. According to some politically active celebrities, only a handful of entertainers lead decent lives while the vast majority struggle to make ends meet.
Their presidential endorsements came as part of their endeavors to improve their working conditions by building a network with prominent politicians who are in a position to flex their muscles in policymaking.
In this election, however, few celebrities have manifested their endorsement of certain presidential candidates. Some sports stars, including former Asian Games swimming gold medalist Choi Yoon-hui, declared their support for Moon. But there were few follow-up endorsements from celebrities.
Culture critic Jin Jong-hoon said ideological extremism is partly responsible for the low number of celebrity presidential endorsements.
He said the nation has become polarized and right- and left-wingers became radicalized while going through the removal of President Park Geun-hye from the top job in the government.
“As we’ve witnessed, the nation is divided as those who called for President Park’s resignation in the candlelit rallies and the Taegeukgi campaigners who fought for reinstating Park continue to confront each other even after she was removed from the presidency. Neither side shows signs of narrowing the gap,” he said.
According to him, Korean people now live in a nation where constructive debates are lost as a handful of vocal extremists try to demonize those who present different views.
“I think the celebrities know their presidential endorsements will take a toll on their careers because of those extremists,” he said.
The Park Geun-hye government’s drive to disadvantage artists and writers for their critical views of the government also affected celebrities one way or another.
Cho Jin-man, a political science professor of Duksung Women’s University in Seoul, said celebrities would have realized it is better to stay calm and not be too vocal about their political orientations, as the nation is experiencing unprecedented political upheaval.
“They witnessed what happened after the fall of President Park and the revealing of the blacklist,” he said. His remarks were construed as meaning that celebrities who had endorsed President Park during the 2012 presidential election had their images tarnished after Park was removed from the presidency.
Inactive celebrity endorsements raised a question — do their endorsements really affect the election results?
Political scientist Cho took a con side. He said presidential candidates’ star-studded rallies will unlikely affect their fans’ voting behavior.
“Some are saying fans of those celebrities, who endorsed certain presidential candidates as the next president, would follow their stars’ political choices, but I disagree,” he said.
“It’s hard even for parents to convince their adult children to vote for the same candidate their parents support. My guess is celebrity endorsements will have almost no effect on their fans’ voting behavior.”
Gallup said the polling agency has never taken surveys about the relationships between celebrity endorsements and fans’ voting behavior and so it’s difficult to say whether the two are related or not.