Netizens pointed out evidence to prove Starship Ent’s “dirty media play” of promoting IVE members unfairly
Fans got frustrated at Starship’s “media play” that makes IVE receive criticisms and be called “controversial rookie”.
After 2 months of their debut, rookie girl group IVE is still attracting keen attention as they have constantly been mentioned in different controversies. Apart from the ones over their talents and attitudes, KPOP fans recently raised discussions on Starship pushing Jang Wonyoung and Ahn Yujin, who are former IZ*ONE members, too much.
Everything was fans’ suspicions at first. However, it seems like Starships is intentionally turning IVE into “Wonyoung, Yujin and friends” with media play method. Recently, a netizen even made a compilation to prove that Starship is treating IVE members unfairly. This video has gone viral on SNS and attracted keen attention from netizens.
TV programs appearance
IVE has just debuted for 2 months ,but they have appeared on a lot of shows, but most of the time, the company only let 2 members, Wonyoung and Yujin, show up on TV. The two IZ*ONE members, especially Wonyoung, caused a stir on all Korean SNS sites and online communities when they appeared on the famous TV show “Knowing Brother”, then later “Radio Star”.
Individual intro at year-end music festivals
IVE’s performance on the stage of SBS Gayo Daejun 2021 raised controversies as Wonyoung appeared in a unique white outfit while other members all wore black costumes. This eventually made IVE look like a group of “Wonyoung and backup dancers”.
However, that was not the only problem related to IVE on that day. The girl group prepared an introduction of 30 seconds for the performance of “ELEVEN”, but Starship still decided to dedicate the spotlight to Wonyoung and Yujin only. The 2 girls got many close-up screen times to freely show many expressions, while the other 4 members only showed up slightly.
Collaboration stages
Another reason why IVE’s fandom is dissatisfied with Starship is the fact that Wonyoung – Yujin continue to be selected to represent the group to participate in all collaboration stages at year-end music festivals while the other 4 members never get the chance.
Year-end music festivals of 2021 had a lot of joint performances for female idols. If Starship promoted other members properly, they could have been able to show their charm and attract more fans. But unfortunately, that didn’t happen because the two former IZ*ONE members were always the most pushed.
The overwhelming number of times Wonyoung and Yujin get to be the ending fairy and video thumbnails
During the promotion for ELEVEN, Wonyoung and Yujin occupied the most spotlight thanks to the broadcasting stations. Weekly music shows like Show Champion, Inkigayo, Music Bank, Show! Music Core constantly let Wonyoung and Yujin appear as thumbnails for official performance videos posted on YouTube. Wonyoung or Yujin also get to be the ending fairy all the time, turning the remaining 4 members of IVE into backup dancers.
Not only fans but netizens are also not happy with Starship’s unfair promotions. Netizens agree that the other 4 members have the same potential as Wonyoung and Yujin and deserve better.
- Liz is pretty and sings well, her potential is so obvious. I don’t understand why Starship keeps ignoring her.
- Wonyoung and Yujin are already popular, let’s give the rest of IVE chances to shine too.
- Actually Starship is the most biased towards Wonyoung, Yujin can’t compare.
- I pity Gaeul the most. She barely has any lines, while Liz and Rei are done dirty by the stylists.
- Starship sucks
- Wonyoung gets a lot of hate for being overly pushed. Starship is turning her into a scapegoat
- IVE is like a group of 2 idols and 4 dancers!
- Looks like Starship launched IVE just to keep Wonyoung and Yujin popular. I feel bad for other members.
- Starship’s line distribution has sucked since SISTAR days, but IVE’s just the worst
- Is IVE becoming MissA 2.0? Isn’t Suzy’s case enough of a lesson?
- Please don’t try to make IVE the 2nd MissA!
Moreover, Starship is called out on “dirty media play”, deliberately making Wonyoung the target of anti-fans’ negative comments. IVE is the living proof of the phrase “the more they get cursed, the more famous they become”, but being popular in a controversial way can be a problem for a group that wants to go a long way.
Many netizens think of the regrettable disbandment of MissA and the suspicion that Suzy was isolated by other members in the past. Some fans worry IVE might walk down the same path as Miss A if this kind of unfair treatment continues.
