Do you think that the kpop industry has any obligation to promote healthy body image/lifestyle?

I recently saw a picture of an idol that I found kinda alarming honestly. Ofc, I don't know her, but she appears to be severely underweight, even by kpop standards and older photos show her at a higher weight (so it doesn't appear to be her natural body type). Many comments praised her for her "lean" and "dainty" body shape. Considering how idols are held up as aspirational ideals by a lot of young fans, I find this to be worrisome. Let's be real, there are many idols who would be considered underweight by BMI and several have talked about extreme dieting to meet their companies' and fans' expectations. Some of even talked about how awful it made them feel physically and mentally. This doesn't just affect the individual, because it ends up setting a standard for the other idols due to the comments that get made comparing them to their smaller counterparts. Larger idols get bashed for being "fat" when they are likely within a healthy weight range. And ofc, this affects young fans who want to look like them. Some countries have even set limits on how thin models can be. Do you think that idol companies should prevent idols from promoting when they appear very underweight?

Quote from the101

This is tough. On one hand if they are adults and choose to have unhealthy diets to be the “optimal” size, this is no different than entertainment industries anywhere in the world. However, it’s strange to me that people worry about the “impressionable kids” Kpop is marketed to if an idol makes an X-rated comment or had a bad attitude, but not the fact that a teenager is sucking on formula and an adult man that’s 5’11 with a 30” waist is constantly talking about the diets he has to be on and the fact he hasn’t made weight.

Right? And also, the particular picture I referred to involved an underage idol so that was even more concerning to me.

Exactly and

Quote from babybat

it's not like idols themselves are all about their diets and want to starve. they aren't happy eating one sweet potato or a cup of ice cubes. they're not the ones that created the standard, they're just more harshly subjected to it than regular people are. you can't blame the idols for perpetuating something they have no control over. and even if the company didn't tell the idols to watch their weight or control their diets, the public does that for them. look at any of the idols that put on a little weight during their promotions, they get called nasty names and picked on relentlessly for being even slightly heavier.

the beauty standards have to be changed, not the idols 🤷🏻‍♀️

I always feel so bad when I see fans, FANS, telling their faves that they are gaining weight and they need to lose it. It's awful that people have the freakin' audacity to insult the very artists they claim to love right to their dang faces. It's awful.

Quote from 0ppar

No...not when you have the media promoting 250 lbs as healthy.

Well, i'm talking about kpop here and the korean media is not promoting 250 lbs as healthy. Also, I'm only talking about the extremes. There is a wide range of healthy weight. Everyone is different. I'm talking about appearing seriously underweight on a growing teen. Idols talk about being so underweight that they don't have menses. That is also unhealthy.

Quote from MY-Kwangya

No I think it's up to the individual but idols shouldn't be subjected to harsh diet and training regime by companies just to be seen attractive or successful.

I agree. I also think fans shouldn't encourage already thin idols to lose weight.

Quote from TheBotter

I can't think of something Kpop companies care so little about lol.

Of course all entertainment should be pushing and aiming for body positivity and physical well-being and healthy relationships with food...but they wont since most of the fans simply don't support it at all...

It's pretty evident the problem's surrounding this issue are from fans as much as companies...

True, the fans can be really judgemental and awful.

b

Quote from KaiRismatic

I think they just shouldn't normalize extreme diets.

Many idols are sadly underweight and it's impossible to prevent all of them to promote

I go back and forth about whether idols shouldn't talk about the lengths they go through to remain idol-sized or if they should be completely open about it. Maybe fans should know exactly what it takes as opposed to people pretending that those body sizes occur naturally for most people.

Quote from Queeeenie

Kpop's target audience are young and impressionable.

They also literally call their artists "idols".

So yes I think they absolutely should be promoting healthy body images.

Yeah, maybe i would feel differently if they weren't help up as the ideal.

Quote from centen

I don't think just existing is necessarily promoting anything.

I'd understand if she was like "I only eat half an apple a day, you should do the same!" but being thin (or on the opposite side, being overweight) is not inherently a recommendation for everyone to copy and look like you.

It's really fans' reactions to it that is the issue i suppose.

Quote from common-nobody

No one is obligated to promote or even lead a healthy lifestyle but the kpop industry is normalizing damaging habits. They make extreme dieting paired with rigurous exercise seem fine when it isn't

It wouldn't be a problem if each idol were in charge of their own diet but we all know who's actually in charge of the meals and workouts....

From what I've seen there are some smaller companies that give their idols more liberty but the big three (four?) have no problemo pushing their idols to the edge

good point. They are normalizing unhealthy habits and making it seem like certain body shapes are the standard when they are very much outliers

Quote from Queeeenie

I think celebrities (all of them, not just idols) and influences should also be forthcoming about plastic surgeries they've h

I don't want to take away their privacy, but I do wish at least some of them would be more upfront about what it takes to look like they do. It's kinda like how a lot of fans have lost touch with what live singing actually sounds like due to all the lipsyncing/autotuning/postproduction on shows. We've also lost sight of what people typically look like with all the PS/filters/makeup/padding used. People are out there getting depressed cuz they don't look poreless like idols. Idols aren't poreless either. We've forgotten what skin texture looks like. People are praising wasp waists plus curves on idols and expecting others to look like that when those curves are padding a lot of the time cuz it's really rare to be underweight with a tiny waist but still have ample hips and boobs. The high nose bridges, full lips, and wide eyes, just aren't natural on so many. But people lament that they weren't born natural beauties like their idols. Maybe if we had more realistic standards, the idols wouldn't feel compelled to mess with themselves so much. I do wonder how a lot of those procedures and fillers will age later. I hope they all find it worth it.

Quote from Queeeenie

I can't think of an idol who has done it but I know other celebs who have straight out denied having work done when it's obvious they have at that point at least, honesty is warranted

I agree with you completely

It's all done to sell us a fantasy and it works

They're very clever, they'll airbrush pores out and then put a grainy filter over it to give the impression of natural texture

Fillers end up making you look older imo

If you use too many

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I have my suspicions about more than a few idols tbh, whether it's out and out PS or just fillers/injections/minor cosmetic stuff. There are way too many high straight nose bridges, narrowed nose tips, double eyelids, puffy lips, perfect hairlines, suddenly prominent chins, and vline jaws that don't appear to have been given by nature to be totally coincidental that procedures are rampant in kpop. I'm not knocking it. It's a personal choice and I have zero against procedures. I just think it occurs way more often than people think.

I've heard that fillers can migrate and end up not dissolving properly and that it can cause puffy faces later if you continue to use them. I imagine that it can also cause skin laxity if you use them to much and then stop filling.

Quote from ISaidISaid

I’d say rather that they shouldn’t promote unhealthy life styles. It is absolutely wrong if they promote their fad diets or talk about how little they eat or talk about starving etc

That’s what is more harmful towards their impressionable audience base.

on the flipside though, i think it also can be damaging to let fans believe that all these idols achieve these looks without doing these extreme measures. So many then start to wonder what's wrong with them that they can't get themselves to look this way and others start to have the attitude "it's easy to be skinny, if you aren't this skinny than you are just bad and lazy!"

Quote from dizzcity

It's not just the idols alone though. It's the entire Korean entertainment / media / fashion / beauty industry. Idols and musicians are just one facet of the Hallyu cultural media complex, which is just as powerful in Korea as the military-industrial complex is in the U.S. (good luck trying to change American laws on guns in the face of all those political lobbies and pressure groups with vested interests...). Especially since there so much money to be made in the export of Korean beauty/fashion products and services, and entertainment products (drama / music / film / variety), many of whom do not want to face commercial and financial risks in going against what is perceived to be the market-approved standard for beauty.

There's also a related question of Kpop companies having the luxury / power / financial resources to uphold obligations to be responsible for societal influence. Capitalism, classism, and extreme competition are hallmarks of South Korean business culture. For many small and mid-tier Kpop companies, do they have the financial resources to survive if they try to promote idols who have healthy bodies? Can they guarantee their idols would succeed and gain enough influence to set the standard, if they do not match what the market desires? MAMAMOO can barely do it with their outstanding talent. Their predecessors in the 2nd-gen, the Brown-Eyed Girls, adopted plastic surgery in order to gain influence, despite being equally-talented vocally.

Of the Big 3 (or 4 if you include HYBE), JYPE is the one that focuses the most on promoting physical health in their corporate social responsibility projects. SM Ent does more education and community social services, YG Ent focuses more on charity donation and now apparently environmental sustainability. I believe HYBE is also moving towards more environmental sustainability initiatives in their CSR focus (and previously mental health). I don't know what Kakao Ent or the CJ group are doing. But in any case, that means that almost none of the major players in the Kpop industry are vested in promoting a healthy body image or lifestyle, except maybe one. And even then, they are less focused on the psychological elements of a healthy body and more on the nutritional and medical elements.

True and very thoughtful! Anyone that would try to do it would be fighting such a tide that it would likely have no effect. It would take a sea change in culture to really make a difference.

Quote from rubyjanes

no. this question is similar to asking if idols have an obligation to not smoke.

I think standards of thinness should be less harsh for the sake of the idols, because they are undoubtedly destroying their health by eating too little and exercising too much, but celebrities are not dieticians or doctors, they have 0 obligation to promote diet or health advice, and if you model your lifestyle off idols and become unhealthy, you only have yourself to blame.

other people's bodies is none of my business, it's not my place to tell a celebrity or any person for that matter to lose weight because they are unhealthily fat or gain weight because they are unhealthily thin, look however you want and deal with the consequences on your own

I think it's harsh to say that the fan has only themselves to blame when a lot of these fans are in their formative years and are learning beauty standards from the idol industry in part. Most beauty standards are not inherent. They are learned and kpop is one of the things that teaches these young fans what beautiful is.