Is it safe to say that SM...... is the root to all sasaeng culture?

As long as you admit they also started the kpop culture.

Propably but only because they started kpop too with the first idol bands.

Depends did jpop suffer from some sasaeng culture back then?

I think it did shape a lot of the kpop culture - good and bad sides.

What SM did definitely worked, business-wise. Morally-wise... oh well

Quote from quark12395

Stalkers and obsessed fans have been around for ages though. An obsessed fan of Jodie Foster literally tried to kill the US President. Fans used to try to rip the clothes off Elvis and the Beatles. Back when NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys were popular, people were stealing hotel items after their stays and selling them online.

You can't really blame them for someone else's behavior. Even the whole "selling the boyfriend fantasy" didn't cause the creation of obsessive fans or sasaengs. Lax laws and the inability to recognize boundaries is what created sasaengs.

Selling blood hair though... 🤷‍♀️

A whole new different level...

Nvm...just give me my akorn

Yeah they shaped kpop fan culture into what it is. And it worked for them all these year. They always had the biggest fandoms who bought the most number of albums and merch.

It’s only very recently that an SM BG isn’t the one with the biggest fanbase. Their sick way of marketing always worked for them before.

Tbh there is a new type of obsession now. Social media obsession and content obsession in the forum of vlives and other posts. The type of obsession has just shifted. I don’t think 3rd gen would have blown up this much without this type of ‘reality tv show 24/7 artists are connected to fans’ type content.

Kpop was, is and will always be about obsession.

this is how SM create small group of intense hardcore fans before milking them.

I think they enable it the most

They do tend to have some of the worst ones with their groups.