A Pinching Hand Emoji Caused A Controversial Debate in South Korea
Feminism is facing a huge backlash in South Korea, and it’s all because of a pinching hand emoji.
It’s just a normal emoji, right? But it hurt the young man in South Korea, thinking this emoji has made fun of the ‘masculinity’ of men. Youths complain that they are being maligned and made fun of.
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Then some male-centered online communities decided to take offense over the gesture and began their hunt for companies with the pinching hand gesture in their official publications including flyers, advertisements, and more.
Some companies and organizations then had to pull down advertisements and promotional campaigns. Just because these males’ rights organizations thought that offensive “small penis” symbols and advisor photos had been being utilized in these advertisements.
One advertisement in particular by GS25, South Korea’s largest convenience store chain, came under fire for reportedly “demeaning men with its imagery.” The advertisement showed sausages as a must-have food item for camping, with a hand in the pinching motion next to an illustration of a sausage.
These tactics appear to be getting results, as according to the LA Times, “Major corporations have disciplined or demoted employees for advertisements that used the pinching hand, government ministries and municipalities have apologized and revamped promotional material, museums have dismantled displays, and celebrities (such as MC JaeJae) have seen their careers threatened.”
While these men believe feminism is hatred of men and the patriarchal order is only a relic of the past, Korea still remains one of the most unequal societies in the developed world according to The Economist.
This is Vita Lawson — Marketer. Former brand ambassador. Writer
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