Eric Mun of Shinhwa fame created a new girl group, Stellar, back in in 2011. They debuted with the song “Rocket Girl,” taking out the bad guys with their lethal aegyo, and Eric Mun even made a cameo demanding a rocket spaceship. To be honest, I hated the song then and I still do; the song and their marketing was not the best way to go and they faded out pretty quickly. This week they made a comeback and with two members, Hyoeun and Minhee, to replace Joa and Yiseul who left the group to pursue a duet project called HoneyDew. Along with the two new members, the group came back with a completely new image, shedding “lethal” doses of aegyo and tuning down the bubblegum pop.
It is obvious that Top Class Entertainment, Stellar’s Company, knew that their girl group needed an image revamp, especially since their old sugary sweet one met with much criticism. Business and marketing is obviously integral to a group’s success and this entertainment company made the changes needed to try to achieve success. But their attempts to gain publicity went awry.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFwnpgtGfHs&w=560&h=315]They released their second teaser on February 6th of last week, and needless to say it has once again been met with criticism. If you watched the video, you would know why. I saw it and was a little taken back by the exposure at the beginning. K-pop is no stranger to booty shorts and short skirts; a lot of female and male performances bare a lot of skin and they do that because they know that sex sells. Apparently, so does Top Class Entertainment.
The company of course came out with a response claiming that the underwear exposed by one of the members wasn’t underwear but shorts.
I call bullshit on that one.
Before I go on, as much as I disliked “Rocket Girl,” I can’t help but feel sorry for these rookies. I am not equating the blame to these four girls, but rather their company and management. When you have provocative dance moves like that coupled with really short skirts, it does seem intentional. And look — we as fans are responding meaning that we do know about the group and therefore that we are invested. My question is, how did the editors who edited the video clips not see this? Or the cameraman?
It is not as if these companies take twenty minutes to shoot a video; it’s a long and careful process in selecting the right shots, and yet they confidently let something like this fly by? It isn’t as if this was a live performance either where wardrobe malfunctions tend to occur most often. Instead, they had total control over what people see. It’s hard to deny the fact that this is a marketing ploy, and while it did grab my attention, it also made me go WTF and shake my head. The irony of the week is that the company is called “Top Class Entertainment” and yet their actions are anything but.
On a lighter note, I thought this was imperative for all of our SB readers to see. I know that you all probably have no idea what we look like, but here, lo and behold, is Subi’s Doppelganger.
There is no situation in which Subi would be pushing T.O.P carelessly away — unless Yunho was within a five foot radius. If not for that fact, I would be questioning Subi at the moment.
