How the KPOP Industry Marketed Fan Culture

Shinee lighstick ocean, 2017

Fan culture is something that has always interested me. It’s so amazing how one group of people who share one common interest can become its own community and how no matter how different fandoms can be from one another there are always those basic core traits. When I first got into KPOP (Thank you Just Right by GOT7) and came to the realisation of how the KPOP/Korean Entertainment Industry had done this I thought it was genius. I find it so amazing how much this industry just gets fan culture, and because of that they’ve been able to market it and make the whole experience of being a fan even better, although more costly. Now, obviously there are some aspects of this that are very Capitalistic (Fancafe memberships etc) and can isolate fans who can’t afford them but other than that the entire thing is pure genius in my opinion.

I have to preface this with saying that I’m going to be making a few comparisons to One Direction because before KPOP entered my life in 2016 they were main fandom and therefore something I have the “most experience” with being a fan of. There isn’t really any Western artist that I truly follow nowadays so I’m not sure how other Western artists are with some of the things I’m going to mention but in general from what I’ve observed I can probably safely say that the only thing that maybe has improved would be Social Media use, only because you learn from experience etc.

Anyways! Since I love breaking things down that’s what I’m going to be doing with this. There are going to be three main categories that I’m going to be talking about, which are: Fan Service, Fan Relationships, and Social Media.

Fan Service:

Honestly I think KPOP idols are all top tier when it comes to fan service. They literally have games where it makes the members come super close to kissing? I mean let me just say if “back in the day” One Direction ever played that game we all know the things and the screams that would’ve happened, especially if there was a certain order they were lined up in, I’ll leave it at that. I tried to find out if this paper kiss game was something from Korean culture but no matter what I typed in the only results were compilation videos of idols playing the game. While many companies of groups have rules about mentioning shipping to members/posting about it on fancafes (which is understandable) pairings is definitely something that they’re well aware of and they use that to their advantage. Whether it be forming units, doing risque type of dances, or actually kissing for stage performances (Yeah, I’m looking at you Super Junior, mostly Heechul lmao) they use these popular pairings, or any pairings really, to gain attention and popularity, and fans live for it, like, I don’t think it’s something anyone ever complains about unless it’s clearly making the idols uncomfortable then it shouldn’t be happening.

Another Fan Service thing that KPOP does amazingly is sexiness? I guess we can call it, but you know things like male idols showing their abs/muscles, doing risque types of dancing (this happens a lot) anything along those lines. On the other hand you have the cuteness, which can be adorable but I think most of the time it’s used to make everyone laugh, cringe, and probably want to crawl under some blankets and hide.

There are so many things that I see in KPOP that fans will mention to idols or that idols will see a lot of fans talking about on any sort of social media and then it’ll happen. This isn’t something that I have really ever seen in Western fan culture, or I at least didn’t see it that often, or ever, with One Direction.

Fan Relationships:

KPOP does this so well. Like wow. I’m going to come at One Direction a little bit here but like especially if you’re coming from being a One Direction fan to a KPOP fan you know what I mean when I say that you feel so appreciated and so connected to whatever group your a fan of. Which is really cliche but like you have an Official Fandom Name. That’s genius! They literally give you a community name and there’s Official Lightsticks, which did you know that apparently Big Bang were the first group to have an actual official lightstick? Amazing.

While there is obviously some fan service involved in this it’s also something that is very genuine, or so I think anyways. There are some idols that will literally do almost anything for their fans (Wonho from MONSTA X literally did an audio VLIVE while taking a shower, I mean, come on) and who just love their fans so much (Again, Wonho cried during a VLIVE while talking about Monbebes like? How lovely is that). I can’t even imagine the relationships between fansites and idols, like some fansites are always there like there is no way idols don’t recognize them and have some sort of relationship with them, especially with groups like Shinee who probably still have some of the same fans they had when they debuted 10 years ago. So that in and of itself is a relationship that you don’t see at all in Western entertainment.

Also Fansignings/meetings. I know fansignings are a thing in Western entertainment but they are nothing compared to KPOP fansignings where you can sit there and talk with your idol for a couple of minutes, any fans dream. Again this is something that the whole capitalism concept effects because you can only get into these fansignings by buying an album and putting your name into a drawing so therefore the more albums you can buy the better your chances are.

Lastly, something that I almost forgot is Fancafes. Having a place where you can post specifically with other people who like the same group as you is very comforting. It’s also super cute that idols can see posts that their fans made, and can make posts of their own for fans to see.

Social Media:

Another thing that I think they’ve mastered is Social Media. Most groups give so much on social media that fans eat up. For example when they post selfies during promotions or even when there’s no current promotions, showing little behind the scene clips of shoots or even just little glimpses into their lives. One thing that I love and can compare with One Direction that all the fans used to look forward to is birthday messages. KPOP members always post something when it one of their fellow group members birthday, but when it came to One Direction you never knew who was going to tweet who.

Naver is also a genius for creating an app like VLIVE where idols can do special broadcasts for their fans whether is be live or something that’s pre-recorded and then posted in a series. Having that platform where a group can post (almost) any content they want for their fans is an amazing concept. Of course there is Youtube but VLIVE has that little edge in that it’s just Korean Entertainment and you can see what level you are based on how many videos of that group you’ve seen etc. I think it’s been over a year now that VLIVE introduced the whole channel+ concept where you have to pay for a certain groups channel+ page and then you can see what they post there. From my observations there are some groups that use their channel+ pages more than other groups.

I’m sure there are more examples I could find on how this industry has marketed fan culture but these were some of the one that really jumped out to me from the beginning, and to me a lot of it so just so genius and can really show how this industry took the fan community and dissected it to really understand it and then turn it around into a profit, which while is capitalistic it’s still genius marketing.

Thank you for reading!