A solution to the problem of airport photography, which is damaging the image of celebrities due to gang-like security
At the end of March of this year, a group of entertainers and staff members who were about to depart for overseas destinations were protested by airport users, including verbal abuse, when they were stopped by domestic and international passengers at the airport for departure filming and security issues.
There was a commotion over the group “NCT WISH” and others leaving the country, including a disturbance over a security guard somewhat rudely demanding that a member of the public “step aside.
This became a major topic of conversation when angry members of the public filmed the incident on their cell phones, but such protests have been common in the past. Last July, there was the issue of excessive security for rising Hallyu star actor Byun Woo-suk.
Some celebrity security guards even yelled at him to show his passport and airline ticket, just to confirm that a well-meaning member of the public walking next to the celebrity's group was in fact a passenger scheduled to leave the country. In some cases, passengers scheduled to leave the country were injured.
At the end of March, SM Entertainment's rookie group Hearts2Hearts, which was leaving the country through Gimpo International Airport, looked extremely perplexed after hearing the outburst from a Korean citizen.
SM Entertainment regretted that “the people who were leaving Korea must have been very angry,” and when they left the country again in April, they quietly departed like ordinary people, wearing masks and without any exaggeration, such as a filming team or security team. As far as is known, “Hearts2Hearts” is the only entertainer who changed his practices immediately after being protested once.
Of course, there have been many previous instances of sensible entertainers doing brief airport fashion shoots outside the airport, in the area between the passenger terminal and the parking lot.
Most veteran entertainers such as Jung Ji-hyun, G-Dragon, and Park Bo Gum have recently been photographed outside the terminal. Therefore, airport fashion photos of sensible entertainers are often taken with the terminal entrance/exit in the background.
The reason why these young entertainers perform ceremonies inside the terminal, much to the protest of the general public going through departure procedures in the airport, is to get their faces known early on, with fashion and other sponsors.
This time around, three alternatives have been brought to light and are being discussed.
One is to film between the terminal and the parking lot, like a sensible entertainment agency or filming team, and the other is to separate them from the general public by placing fast-tracks for a fee for recognized celebrities and the super rich who need personal protection.
In addition, there are growing calls for thorough training of entertainment planning companies on the rude attitude and excessive protection of some celebrity protection teams, which have been frowned upon by even the merchants of local tourist attractions.
A shopkeeper in a southern region confided, “My daughter's favorite K-pop group was coming, and my whole family was excited, but before they arrived, a huge group of men dressed and portrayed like an organized gang lined up in front of them, gawking at the county residents and controlling them like a martial law army. The image of the entertainers was completely destroyed,” he confided.
