Gyeongsan City Issues Apology After Making Controversial Video Private
Gyeongsan City in Gyeongbuk has faced controversy after a promotional video encouraging voter participation in the presidential election included a scene in which a male employee commits violence against a female employee. As the controversy grew, Gyeongsan City immediately made the video private and posted an official apology.
The problematic video was uploaded on May 26 to the official YouTube channel of Gyeongsan City under the title "Presidential Election Voting Encouragement Video." In the short video, which is less than one minute long, a superior verbally abuses a female employee while pointing a finger at her, hits her on the head with a file folder, and the female employee bites the superior's finger. The video's thumbnail showed a scene of the female employee's hair being grabbed, leading to criticism that violence was being consumed as humor.
Controversial voting encouragement video in Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk. Screenshot from social networking service (SNS)
Citizens who watched the video left negative comments such as, "How is this a voting encouragement video?" "Is voting a joke?" "It is inappropriate for violence against women to be treated as humor," "How can public funds be used for this?" and "Why grab her hair? This is not even dating violence. What does this have to do with the election?" As the controversy intensified, Gyeongsan City made the video private on May 27, and on the following day, May 28, posted an official apology. In the official statement, Gyeongsan City explained, "All scenes in the video are fictional, and there was no intention to promote violence or hatred."
The city further explained, "There were concerns that using election-related expressions as they are could be misunderstood as taking a particular political stance, so the person in charge directly modified the concept to something unrelated, and in the process of filming, an inappropriate element was mistakenly included." The city added, "As an overwhelming number of comments were posted, we first deleted the video and posted an apology as quickly as possible." Gyeongsan City stated, "We deeply reflect on having caused discomfort to viewers and will take care to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future."
This is not the first time a government agency's promotional video has sparked controversy for inappropriately using violent scenes as humor. In 2017, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism deleted a promotional video for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and issued an apology just one day after including a scene in which a man pushes a woman with his hand, which was criticized for promoting dating violence.
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