Source: SPOTV News
Davichi's Kang Min-kyung and stylist Han Hye-yeon are under criticism for their YouTube PPL.
On the 15th, Dispatch revealed the Han Hye Yeon and Kang Min Kyung claimed that "they personally bought the items showcased on their YouTube content" when in fact they were PPL. The two earned tens of millions of won per item without disclosing that the brands were "sponsored" and as such advertisements.
The public criticized the two for lying about the sponsored products and netizens that purchased their products complained that "they felt betrayed by Kang Min Kyung and Han Hye Yeon."
Kang Min Kyung explained the controversy stating that "she accepted the company's proposal to edit and use her YouTube content after she uploaded the video. Therefore, the video itself wasn't PPL. The contents were discussed later and used on the company's website and not on her own YouTube channel so there was no reason for her to mark the video itself as "sponsored."
However, netizens expressed doubts about Kang Min Kyung's statement stating that her explanation seems to be the latest PPL "trick" to avoid disclosing sponsored content where influencers upload "product recommendation videos" first through their YouTube then later suggest advertising directly to the company and edit the video afterwards.
Some companies also expressed confusion why the company had to pay an advertisement fee and re-sign the contract when the influencer uploaded the video on their own first.
As a result, many suspect that Kang Min Kyung and the company were in consultation in advance before uploading the video. Others stated that "if Kang Min Kyung innocently shared the video without greed for money, she could've rejected the company's offer to use her video as an advertisement."
Meanwhile, stylist Han Hye Yeon admitted to not properly labeling her videos as "ads" and stated that "she will immediately revise the content as "paid advertisement" and will do her best to make sure it doesn't happen again through a thorough production verification system."
However, public criticism against Han Hye Yeon and Kang Min Kyung is still strong with netizens expressing disappointment that they "intentionally omitted their products were ads and lied that they purchased them with their own money."
What are your thoughts on the controversy?
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