Girls’ Generation’s MV director admits stealing DisneySea’s design “Sorry for causing trouble”
The director who directed the MV for Girls’ Generation’s new song apologized for the controversy over plagiarism.
Director Shin Hee-won, who directed the MV for Girls’ Generation‘s new song “FOREVER 1”, posted on Instagram on August 14th, saying, “First of all, I am sorry for causing inconvenience to Girls’ Generation members and SM Entertainment due to the controversy over the set design for a part of Girls’ Generation’s ‘FOREVER 1’ MV.”
Director Shin Hee-won then apologized, “I am ashamed and apologetic for borrowing design without permission when I was commissioned to do this MV and involved in planning and directing as well as even a small prop.”
The director said, “I searched for a number-related logo design to be used in the 15th anniversary parade set, and found several references. After finding a suitable image, I borrowed it and used it in the set design without checking the source. I confirm that the design is the logo of Japanese DisneySea’s 15th anniversary. I sincerely apologize for proceeding with the design of the set without thorough investigation or confirmation.”
The director continued, “I will research and check more thoroughly from various angles before production to prevent this from happening again. Once again, I would like to express our sincere apologies to the members of Girls’ Generation, SM Entertainment, and fans who enjoyed watching the MV.”
Netizens criticized after seeing the post, saying, “If it’s just a reference, they should have modified the original design before using it,” “Isn’t it wrong to copy 100% from the source no matter what it is?” and “What happened to your sense of copyright? How can you just use something without checking whether it can be commercially used or not”. In particular, this controversy is a regrettable one for Girls’ Generation as they recently come back with a new song in a long time to mark the 15th anniversary of their debut.
Earlier, on August 12th, Japanese netizens raised suspicion that the 15th anniversary emblem seen in Girls’ Generation’s “FOREVER 1” MV looked strikingly similar to the 15th anniversary emblem of Tokyo DisneySea.
Source: nate
