In Indonesia, where K-pop is very popular, political parties have started using the BLACKPINK as a propaganda tool to win the hearts of young voters.
BLACKPINK is unintentionally exerting great influence in Indonesia ahead of the general elections in February next year.
According to the Indonesian news outlet Jakarta Post on March 21st (local time), Indonesian political parties are utilizing the popularity of BLACKPINK and K-pop to win votes ahead of the general elections. Some even say that BLACKPINK is “shaking up the Indonesian political scene.”
Recently, the opposition party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), announced on Twitter that they will be giving away tickets to BLACKPINK’s World Tour “BORN PINK” concert in Jakarta through a lottery system.
To participate in the lottery, voters must take a photo in front of a billboard of the presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, wearing BLACKPINK merchandise, and post it on social media with the hashtags of the party and candidate. The announcement video for the event has already gained over a million views since it was released on August 8th, proving its impact on young people.
Another party, the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI), also announced on their official Twitter account that they will be giving away BLACKPINK concert tickets to people who follow their account and retweet their posts.
This is interpreted as there being a large proportion of young people among Indonesian voters. However, public opinion on this issue is not always good, with some fans criticizing the parties for using BLACKPINK as a “tool” for their political purposes.
Meanwhile, since the group debuted in 2016, BLACKPINK’s contract with YG Entertainment is set to expire this year. The outlook for the renewal of BLACKPINK’s contract is expected to proceed in a hopeful direction. However, members are receiving heft offers from various others, there are many predictions that contract renewal may not be possible. In particular, Lisa, which has the largest sales in the group, is known to receive love calls from the global market rather than from Korea.
In addition, some analysts say that YG’s acceleration in debuting the rookie girl group BABYMONSTER may be deeply related to BLACKPINK’s contract discussion. Earlier in 2016, when BLACKPINK debuted, 2NE1’s contract also expired, and the senior girl group ended up concluding their team activities.
Fans who are aware of BLACKPINK’s contract expiration thus left mocking comments such as, “What if the contract is not renewed? Would the new government then give their voters tickets of another artist?”, “Is this a class election?”, and “I guess a government is legitimate if they offer rewards”.
