Fashion/Style
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Dear Kpop Culprits: Down with Playboy Bunny Ears

15
Written by On July 18, 2011

Dear All Relevant Members of the Kpop Community,

Down–down, I say!–to Playboy bunny ears imagery in Kpop. It’s pervasive all over the world but I’m sick of this easy image being used to accompany a concept.

The first time I really understood that it was not some innocuous symbol was in 8th grade math class. There was a girl that wanted to be called Bunny because she thought that it was cute to reference Hefner and co. My teacher wasn’t going to call her that because–assured that it had nothing to do with family or ancestral nicknames–he knew it was demeaning. “It’s not cute to associate yourself with Playboy as an 8th grader.” He was right. And even when, or if, it’s “just” supposed to be cute, is it even worth it? When I see bunny ears on a human being I immediately find them uninteresting. It’s boring, easy and basic.

I can say that, personally, I find the entire Playboy franchise ridiculous and best left for the barely acceptable level of society in which it currently resides; so can we please, pretty please, stop incorporating it into our Korean pop culture? Let this trend die.

G-Dragon and TOP already responded to a polite request to remove their use of the Playboy bunny ears (left). The result is a much more interesting and original logo (right) for their current and possible future partner work. It’s clear why they decided to go with the bunny ears, despite claims that it had more to do with the year of the rabbit than brand recognition, the playboy bunny evokes the idea of the luxury lifestyle full of any thing you want at your finger tips: money, cars, and, most importantly, women.

F(x)‘s Victoria added to the inappropriate use of the iconic symbol for IPKN Cosmetics ads. The ears are supposed to be cute but all it ends up being is an homage to the institution that helped sustain and strengthen the notion that it’s a-okay to negatively objectify women.

Bunny ears are cute, but it’s hard to separate them from what made them so popular in the first place (perhaps only made more notorious by Easter), Playboy Enterprises. Let’s say you can put them in a cute vacuum. Still silly. Here’s Hyo Sung from Secret wearing a pair to a fan meet. Why?

Suzy‘s Miss A also finds herself clutching on to them for dear life in a photo shoot. …Why?

A Pink (what an awful name) wear the bunny ears in this recent photo op. WHY? (And not just the ears)

[Edit: A Pink were wearing bow headbands with wires in them which one could point up as bunny ears, as they appear to do in the pic.]

It’s enough–enough, I say!–they don’t make you more interesting, they’re not that cute and when they’re paired with something vaguely sexy or lolita-ish it acquires a whole other unsavory meaning. So let’s cut the bunny ears from the next photo shoot, okay?

xxxx,

Nia

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  • em

    actually, bunny ears made its way into “fashion” or mainstream acceptance in fall 2009 when it became couture. it was in a ton of fashion shows and celebrities were seen wearing them. unless someone starts wearing them with the collar and really inappropriate clothing with suggestive behavior, i don’t think it signifies playboy’s influence at all. i think playboy’s lost a lot of its relevance in today’s society. and it’s asia, equality or even a notion of the inequality isn’t quite prevalent yet. just because they wear bunny ears, it doesn’t mean it’s the only way k-artists are showing that women are being objectified. let’s not ignore all the short shorts and revealing concept outfits or all the songs about how they can’t live without that one boy or how they are so heartbroken.

    • http://seoulbeats.com Nia

      2009 is absolutely not the beginning of the prevalence of Bunny ears. Louis Vuitton certainly gave it a high-class edge but that is just a part of the canon of the imagery. It’s in the same line as Kiffyeh’s and crosses, a multitude of uses, with occasional resurgences when high-fashion gets a hold of it and sends it filtering back down through boutiques, departments stores, outlet malls, the gap, forever 21 etc.

      I completely agree that it’s not always a nod to the imagery all the time, or on purpose but whether it’s a direct result, some residual use meant to be cute or an attempt to look like the woodland creature, it’s time to let it die.

  • kei

    Good point with GD&TOP. The old bunny logo really exudes what their concept is about but I too was underwhelmed when I first saw it. The later one is definitely more eye-catching

    • Heyhey

      The second logo with GD and TOP, IS WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY BETTER and UNIQUE! I hated the bunny ears when I first saw then and still now =___= It’s playboy! Nothing else!

  • ges

    umm okay with the GD&TOP thing. that was really a reference to the playboy brand.

    but everything else? come on! to me, those are simply generic bunny ears! no need to drag them into your argument.

    • Mayumi

      But do you really think those girls would have been put in those “generic” bunny ears if they didn’t call to mind a very specific image, commonly associated with Playboy itself?

  • iJavo

    although it sounds right and you do have a point and my mom will rip me to shreds if she ever watches me treat a woman like that, that is only pretty much in the States they do not associate Playboy and bunny ears over there that is only an american thing if you don’t relate Playboy and bunny ears you will find bunny ears cute.

    SO basically you’re right objectifying woman is wrong wearing bunny ears not so much

    • http://seoulbeats.com Nia

      Even when it’s cute, I find it ridiculous if you’re over the age of consent haha

  • wartooth

    “unsavory” “negatively objectify women”

    Sorry, are we talking about porn or the kpop industry?

    For cripes sake, it’s Playboy, not Hustler, Penthouse or any of the other filthy rags. Playboy is tame and tasteful and there is hardly ever anything unsavory or negative about the women inside or the way they are portrayed.

    I know girls are programmed to think any form of pornography is evil but c’mon: they’re just pictures.

    • Heyhey

      Korea is NOT foreign to the sex industry. They havered light districts and prositutes have existed in Korea for CENTURIES! Also Koreans know American music ex. beyonce, usher, justin bieber, movies ex twilight, bands ex Maroon 5, books ex. Gone with the Wind etc etc Do you really think they don’t know America’s FAMOUS BUNNY RANCH LOGO? Come on! American culture is INTERNATIONAL!~

      • YEE

        Agreed

      • Krazyforpop

        Sorry, 3 months old post. But I’m married to a Korean and none of the Koreans I’ve talked to on the subject have a clue about the bunny ear logo. They’re just shocked to hear it’s a pornography brand in the US. One Korean aquintance of mine had the playboy logo inside and on his shoes. When I mentioned the pornography connection: shock (!)

    • Seri

      LOL. Your post is fail.

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  • http://twitter.com/adadu_cantoxx Ada Du

    Not all bunny ears represent Playboy. If that’s the case, you might as well not let people own rabbits as pets =_=