By Chung Hyun-chae
“Let Me In,” a makeover TV program that has been criticized for promoting cosmetic surgery, will be taken off the air amid simmering public antipathy against it.
CJ E&M, producer of the cable channel program, said it would halt the program with the recently finished fifth season being its last.
“Although we have tried to give all participants an opportunity to build better lives, we’ve decided not to run the show for next season and will not produce any more programs featuring cosmetic surgery, reflecting the sentiments of our society,” the company said in a press release, Thursday.
“We will prepare better-quality programs that could impress and inspire viewers in other ways,” it said.
In the title, “Me In” is written in Chinese characters that mean “beauty.”
As the title suggests, the program recruited people who had issues with their appearance and transformed them into plastic beauties. The doctors in the program and program directors called the surgery “reconstructive,” but they have come under criticism for offering unnecessary cosmetic procedures.
During the five seasons since 2011, the program has been a magnet of controversy for encouraging people to get plastic surgery and fueling beauty-infatuated fanaticism.
Some women’s organizations including the Seoul YWCA, the Korean Women’s Environmental Network and the Korean Women’s Association applied for an injunction at the Seoul Central District Court earlier this month to stop the program.
The groups described the program as a “one-hour advertisement for cosmetic surgery and specific clinics.”
Doctors could raise their profiles and increase their hospitals’ brand recognition through the show.
The public response to the program has also been negative as the show induces people to think that cosmetic surgery is the most effective solution for all their problems.
Among many controversial cases was a story of the wife whose husband demanded a divorce from her, due to her looks. He was also violent toward her. After she got plastic surgery and became beautiful, the program showed that the couple got back together.
“I cannot understand why the program sent her back to the violent husband, instead of helping her out of the family violence,” an Internet user said.
TV personality Yoo Byung-jae once left a sarcastic comment about the program on his Facebook page. Under the title of “The great wisdom acquired through Let Me In,” Yoo wrote, “If I want to become beautiful, I get surgery; if I am verbally abused by family members, I get surgery; if my husband is violent, I get surgery; if there is conflict between employees and management, I get surgery; if I don’t know what to eat for dinner, I get surgery.” The post received more than 93,000 likes.