BBC is drawing keen attention as they mentioned FreeZia’s controversy over using fake goods.
On Feb 16th (local time), BBC introduced FreeZia as a fashionable “it” girl from Netflix’s popular dating show “Single’s Inferno“, and reported that “FreeZia ruined her career in Korea by wearing fake designer clothes.”
Previously, FreeZia posted a handwritten apology on her Instagram on Jan 17th and publicly apologized after allegations arose over costumes and accessories that she showed on “Single’s Inferno” and SNS. In addition, a video in which FreeZia referred to kimchi as “pao cai”, a Chinese term for pickled vegetables, was later discovered, leading to criticism.
Accordingly, TV shows began editing out her cameos. MBC’s “Point of Omniscient Interfere” was edited entirely while JTBC’s “Knowing Bros” was edited partially. BBC delivered this information and evaluated that Korea’s “gold spoon” culture destroyed FreeZia’s career. Rather than damaging the brand value, people felt more betrayed and resentful about FreeZia’s behavior of pretending to be a gold spoon even though she was not.
Derived from the English expression that refers to those born into privilege “with a silver spoon in their mouth”, a gold spoon is someone from the top 1% of high-income households in Korea. Citing Michelle Ho, a women’s studies assistant professor at the National University of Singapore, BBC added, “People feel like they’ve been cheated. They lived their lives vicariously through her, they aspired to the fantasy.”