Disney Korea criticized for promoting NewJeans Danielle more than Halle Bailey for “The Little Mermaid”
NewJeans Danielle is the major face of “The Little Mermaid” promotion in Korea instead of Halley Bailey, drawing criticisms
Recently, NewJeans Danielle was announced as the voice actress for female lead Ariel in the Korean dubbed version of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” live-action. Afterwards, Disney Korea conducted promotional campaigns for the film at various national theaters and major television channels like SBS.
However, Korean audiences started to complain that instead of Halle Bailey, the lead actress of “The Little Mermaid”, they are seeing Danielle, a voice actress, appearing on numerous posters and billboards. Since the target audience of the film is mainly children, many people are concerned that children might mistake Danielle for the “real” Ariel, only to see a difference actress.
In addition, on Disney Korea’s YouTube channel, the thumbnail featured Danielle instead of Halle Bailey, different from the English video on Walt Disney Studios’ channel.
Below are some comments from Korean netizens:
- Why are they showing the face of the voice actress instead of the main actress? Is this an animated film instead of a live-action?
- The trailer is no different. There isn’t a single direct shot of Halle Bailey.
- This way, children will mistake Danielle for the lead actress and go to the theaters expecting to see her.
- They hyped up the “black little mermaid” but didn’t show her face in the trailer. What’s up with that?
On the other hand, “The Little Mermaid” live-action will officially premiere in Korea today (May 24th).
Source: VKR
