‘Under 15’ canceled amid backlash over exploitation concerns

“After deep consideration, we have decided that it will be best to cancel the scheduled broadcast and focus on protecting the participants and reorganizing the program,” its production team from Crea Studio said in a statement on March 28.

“Moving forward, we will do our best to produce the program in a way that ensures the essence of the show is not damaged while making sure the sincerity of the participants is properly delivered,” it said.

MBN, which was initially to broadcast the show starting March 31, also confirmed Crea Studio’s stance and released a statement on the same day.

“Regardless of the cancellation of its broadcast, MBN will continue its ongoing partnership with Crea Studio,” the broadcaster said.

Initially promoted as a “K-pop prodigy discovery initiative,” the program follows 59 young girls, all aged 15 and younger, competing to become the next K-pop star.

However, the show received backlash and was called out for cancellation since it uploaded its teaser videos on its official YouTube channel on March 12 of young participants wearing thick makeup and revealing outfits. In addition, criticism also mounted after contestant photos were uploaded to Instagram, including bar codes, which many interpreted as objectifying the girls.

Following the controversy, its producers held a “emergency” press conference on March 25 to defend its production. The co-CEO Seo Hye-jin of Crea Studio emphasized that there is a “huge misunderstanding” regarding the show.

Despite the producers’ efforts, the program continued to receive criticism for sexualizing young girls.

Crea Studio was founded by Seo, who worked at SBS for 21 years. She launched the successful “Miss Trot” (2019) and “Mr. Trot” (2020) trot audition shows at TV Chosun, where she had worked from 2018 to 2022. She also made three trot competition shows at MBN. She was removed as the producer of “Star King” (2006-2016) in 2009 for plagiarizing a Japanese show and came under fire in 2018 for paying a contract worker with gift cards instead of cash.

BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]