Life-size pillows of K-Pop group GFriend cause concern in South Korea
Merchandise to promote upcoming concert is pulled amid fears that people would do more than just ‘hug’ the pillows
By Ko Dong-hwan
Goods that are tribute to K-pop girl band GFriend have angered fans because the objects can apparently be used as sex toys.
The life-size pillows, 180 centimetres long and 60 centimetres wide with a full body image of each member colour-printed on top, are the source of the controversy. People criticised the goods for encouraging fans to hug the objects and perhaps do more than just hugging them.
Source Music released the products on December 29 ahead of the band’s first exclusive concert on January 6-7 at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul. They were introduced on the band’s social network site with hashtags “#GFRIEND 1st Concert 2018” and “#Season_of_GFRIEND.”
Each object in the six-piece package costs 60,000 won (US$56). They were among 25 new products including cheering wands and shopping bags. The goods are worth a total of 1 million won.
