(ANN/KOREA HERALD) – Kpop4Planet (K4P), a climate activist group founded by K-pop fans, staged a protest on Wednesday in front of Hybe’s headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. The demonstration, titled “Plastic Album Sins,” called for stronger environmental protection measures within the K-pop industry, specifically addressing its unsustainable practices.
K4P referenced an August survey of over 12,000 K-pop fans from South Korea and abroad. The survey revealed that 42.8 per cent of respondents criticised Hybe’s marketing strategies, particularly those that boost fans’ chances of attending fan sign events based on the number of albums purchased. Fans called this practice Hybe’s “worst business tactic.”
During the protest, K4P demanded an end to these marketing strategies, arguing that they lead to excessive album purchases, exacerbating environmental pollution. As part of the demonstration, the group performed a symbolic act where a puppet, bound by strings, cut itself free, representing the liberation from these harmful practices.
K-pop entertainment companies, including Hybe, often release multiple versions of albums with slight design variations and include random photo cards, enticing fans to buy numerous copies in pursuit of rare items. This, coupled with fan sign events where purchasing more albums increases one’s chances of meeting artists, has drawn increasing criticism from fans both in South Korea and abroad.
“I bought over 100 copies of the same album just for a chance to meet my favorite artist at a fan sign event. Now, they’re piled up in boxes at my home,” said a 23-year-old fan surnamed Kim during the protest.
Despite the shift to digital streaming, physical K-pop album sales have surged over the past decade. According to Circle Chart, the top 400 K-pop albums collectively sold 115.77 million copies in 2022, a dramatic increase from 7.37 million in 2014. This rise in sales has led to a significant increase in plastic consumption by entertainment companies.
Data from Democratic Party Rep. Woo Won-shik, a member of the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee, showed that in 2022, entertainment companies used 801.5 tons of plastic to produce albums, including CDs, photo cards, and packaging. This is a stark rise from the 55.8 tons used in 2017.
Since 2021, the K-pop industry has made some efforts to adopt eco-friendly practices, such as using FSC-certified paper and biodegradable materials. However, these measures have not addressed the core issue of excessive album purchases, which frequently result in waste. CDs made from polycarbonate are difficult to recycle, and South Korea has limited facilities to manage the toxic substances released during the recycling of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), often used in packaging.
“The use of soy ink and recycled materials, which companies claim as their eco-friendly efforts, shows a misunderstanding of what fans truly want,” said Mathieu Berbiguier, a visiting professor of Korean Studies at Carnegie Mellon University. “Companies need to rethink fan sign entry methods and develop systems that don’t generate waste from photo card collecting.”
