Gangnam-gu Office "Multiple Complaints Received" Demolition After Four Days
LGBTQ+ Community Backlash
An advertisement video featuring a same-sex couple engaging in skinship appeared on an electronic billboard on the exterior wall of a building in the heart of Gangnam, Seoul, but was removed after protests and complaints within four days.
According to Yonhap News on the 8th, a domestic operator of an application (app) for sexual minorities posted a promotional video advertisement for the app on an electronic billboard on the exterior wall of a building along Gangnam-daero in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, on the 26th of last month.
Skinship Scene of a Same-Sex Couple Appearing on the Exterior LED Screen of a Building in the Heart of Gangnam Photo by Yonhap News
The video showed gay and lesbian couples facing each other, kissing, or hugging. The app operator reportedly signed a contract with the billboard advertising company to broadcast the 20-second video more than 100 times a day for one year.
However, after being contacted by Gangnam-gu Office, the company stopped the advertisement on the 30th of last month, just four days later.
A Gangnam-gu Office official told Yonhap News, "Several related complaints were received," and added, "Based on the Outdoor Advertising Act, we requested the advertising company to exclude the broadcast of the video and demanded measures to prevent recurrence."
The district office stated that this action was based on a provision in the Outdoor Advertising Act that prohibits advertisements that may harm public morals by containing obscene or decadent content. The official said, "We judged that promoting an application (app) that arranges same-sex meetings could be considered inappropriate."
The app operator’s representative told Yonhap News, "We spent a significant amount of money to secure a license contract for domestic operation, but the business has essentially failed," and lamented, "I never expected that sexual minority-related businesses would be treated so harshly in 2024."
The sexual minority community strongly criticized Gangnam-gu Office’s action as a "regressive administration out of step with the times."
Last June, participants of the Seoul Queer Parade marched from Jonggak Station in Jongno-gu, Seoul, heading towards the Jongno area. [Photo by Yonhap News]
Controversies related to LGBTQ+ content have occurred domestically and internationally. In June, Russian authorities removed LGBTQ+ content from a popular foreign language learning service. This was in response to the country's ban on LGBTQ+ propaganda. At that time, the learning application Duolingo deleted content containing LGBTQ+ promotional material following a request from Russia’s telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor.
Domestically, Daejeon Metropolitan City recently sparked controversy by demanding the cancellation of the screening of "About My Daughter," a film dealing with sexual minority stories, just over a week before the opening of the Daejeon Women’s Film Festival. The organizing body, the Daejeon Women’s Association Federation, eventually returned the subsidy and held the film festival through citizen fundraising.
Yang Eun-seok, Secretary-General of the Seoul Queer Culture Festival Organizing Committee, told Yonhap News, "The district office explains that it acted according to complaints, but in reality, the decision reflects the administrative agency’s perspective," and criticized, "Labeling all sexual minority-related content as 'obscene' or 'decadent' itself contains a hateful viewpoint. In a situation where administrative agencies hold immense power, related companies inevitably suffer as if struck by a bolt from the blue."
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