CU Launches 'iCU' Child Safety Campaign with Son Heung-min

Son Heung-min Leads Seoul Subway Station
Child-Friendly Social Contribution iCU Public Service Advertisement

A citizen is watching the nationwide child safety campaign with Son Heung-min organized by CU. (Photo by CU).

CU announced on the 12th that it will launch a nationwide child safety campaign in collaboration with Premier League forward Son Heung-min to create a safer country for children.

CU and Son Heung-min recently signed a brand model contract and agreed to take on a public interest role that can benefit our society beyond typical marketing activities. They decided to combine the influence of a global sports star and the leading convenience store chain in Korea to promote activities from an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) perspective.

The child safety campaign led by both parties is CU’s child-friendly social contribution program called ‘iCU.’ Based on its excellent performance in Korea, iCU has even been introduced in Mongolia, representing the public function of Korean convenience stores. CU will run iCU public service advertisements featuring Son Heung-min as the model at about 20 major subway stations in Seoul, including Gangnam Station, City Hall Station, Seoul Station, Seolleung Station, and Gwanghwamun Station, until early next month.

The child safety campaign aims to raise public awareness to create a safe society for children, our future generation, and to widely inform people about the functions and usage of iCU, which operates in over 17,000 CU stores nationwide. The advertisement is part of the comprehensive iCU campaign covering all child safety activities conducted by CU, delivering three key messages through screen door ads: child safety rules education, prevention of missing and abused children, and finding long-term missing children. Through the QR code in the advertisement, viewers can also access an introduction to iCU and real case videos.

Since 2017, CU has been operating iCU, the first missing prevention reporting system in the industry that uses the nation’s largest store infrastructure to safely protect lost children and hand them over to the police and their families. So far, it has helped return over 140 children and others to their families.

iCU is evolving from its original role of missing prevention and finding lost children to a CU child-specialized social contribution program that comprehensively covers child safety, including child abuse prevention and monitoring, finding long-term missing children, and creating a safe environment for children.

To create a safe growth environment for children, CU annually conducts various activities such as the Child Safety Citizen Award, Child Safety Drawing Contest, and the regular missing children search campaign ‘CU SOON’ in collaboration with key institutions like the National Police Agency, local governments, and the Child Rights Protection Agency. Last year, CU published the first Child Safety White Paper, which includes major child-friendly activities and achievements such as iCU and various statistics.

Yang Jae-seok, Head of Communications at BGF Retail, said, “Son Heung-min, currently considered the most influential figure in Korea, is playing a significant role as the model of iCU in protecting the safety of our children. CU will continue to develop and operate various social contribution programs that fulfill its social responsibilities as a public infrastructure in daily life.”

Meanwhile, to foster youth soccer players, last month BGF Retail President Lee Geon-jun personally visited Son Soccer Academy in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, and donated 100 million KRW to the soccer development fund.