The audition program "Underfifteen" team clarified the controversial barcode design in the minor participants' profile photos.
An emergency production briefing related to MBN's new audition program "Underfifteen" was held on the afternoon of the 25th at the Stanford Hotel Seoul, located on World Cup Buk-ro in Mapo District. Attendees included CEO Seo Hye-jin, co-CEO Hwang In-young, and Director Yong Seok-in from the production company CREA Studio.
On that day, CEO Seo Hye-jin addressed concerns that the barcode image in the teaser profiles of the participants evokes sexual commodification, saying, "I want to state that there was a huge misunderstanding," and added, "The barcode came from a student ID concept; nowadays, a picture that appears with a student ID when you Google it also includes a barcode."
She continued, "I was so surprised to see the barcode from this student ID concept interpreted as something sexual."
She also noted, "The person responsible for that design is a 30-year-old woman," and said, "I think considering female workers in the media industry to have low sexual awareness is to undervalue female workers themselves."
"Underfifteen" is a global audition program set to air for the first time on the 31st. It aims to discover K-pop prodigies under the age of 15. However, after the teaser videos and participant profiles were released, there were controversies regarding excessive styling of minor participants, raising issues of child sexual objectification.
In particular, the insertion of "barcodes" at the bottom of each participant's profile photo shocked many. They received criticism for treating child and adolescent participants as blatant commodities.
In response, MBN stated on the 21st, "We take the concerns of various sectors of our society regarding the new program 'Underfifteen' very seriously," adding, "MBN will comprehensively review the details of the program and its airing status, and will announce its position soon."
Meanwhile, the production team of 'Underfifteen' stated on the same day, "All participants of 'Underfifteen' are precious talents who applied for the program with their own consent and the agreement of their guardians," adding, "The production team has strictly adhered to recording guidelines to protect minor participants during filming."
However, as controversies continued, the production company CREA held an emergency production briefing.