Young celebrities face ban from alcohol advertisements
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Singer Lee Ji-eun, bettern known as IU, poses with a bottle of soju. She may have to stop appearing in the soju advertisement if the National Assembly passes a bill that prevents entertainers aged under 24 from appearing in alcohol advertisements. / Korea Times file
By Lee Min-hyung
Young Korean celebrities face being banned from appearing in alcohol advertisements.
The National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee last week passed a bill that prevents athletes and entertainers aged under 24 from appearing in alcohol advertisements. If the bill is approved by the plenary session of the National Assembly, singer Lee Ji-eun, better known as IU, will have to stop appearing in a Chamisul Soju advertisement. Soju is popular, distilled rice-based Korean liquor.
Rep. Lee Elisa of the ruling Saenuri Party proposed the bill in July 2012 when skating star Kim Yu-na appeared in a Hite beer commercial.
Lee said the bill was aimed at reducing teenage drinking.
“According to a recent survey by Statistics Korea, one out of six Korean teenagers is drinking,” Lee said. “The high drinking rate is taking a toll on youngsters’ health and leads them to doing wrong things that incur high social costs.”
She said the bill would help prevent young drinkers from identifying with stars who were their peers.
A Statistics Korea survey, released Tuesday, shows the drinking rate among teenagers has risen slightly from 16.3 percent in 2013 to 16.7 percent in 2014.
But smoking among teenagers has fallen slightly from 9.7 percent to 9.2 percent during the same period.