Recently, aespa went viral on a Korean online community for allegedly using body makeup.
It is no secret that South Korean beauty standards put a lot of emphasis on pale skin. K-Pop idols with lighter skin tones are often praised for their complexion, which includes the aespa members. But recently, a video went viral on social media platforms for pointing out that all aespa members appear to be wearing body makeup to make their complexion appear lighter. A Korean netizen posted a compilation of a few such videos from TikTok on Nate Pann, attracting over 170,000 viewers as of writing.
The viral post has since sparked some debate. While some argued that it could be the effect of lighting, others pointed out that using body makeup is a standard practice in K-Pop, and targeting aespa alone was done in bad taste. However, some netizens also agreed that upholding such beauty standards did not agree with the perspective of a global audience.
- “But isn’t it also because of the lighting? In the past, Girls’ Generation’s Tiffany looked so brown under the podium, but once she went up on the stage and the flashes went off, her skin looked white.”
- “But it’s not just aespa that does this. All the idols do it as well. So why are aespa the only ones getting posts like this written about them? Honestly, Karina and Winter were always fair-skinned.”
- “Aespa’s real skin tone is already on the pale side, so this kind of a post doesn’t affect them at all, haha. If you look at their candid early debut photos, even the ones where they are unstyled, their legs are really white. Why would anyone post something about body makeup for aespa? Of course, as celebrities, they need to pay attention to every visible part of their body, so they probably use some tone-correcting cream, but their skin is already naturally fair. Photos like those just have differences in lighting and shadows, which create more contrast, that’s all. aespa’s skin has always been naturally fair…”
- “Do you think the idol you like doesn’t use body makeup? Pretty much every celebrity does it, so why act like only aespa does? In fact, aespa’s were already fair to begin with.”
- “But is it a bad thing to use body makeup? It’s true that aespa’s skin is fair, and it’s also true that they use body makeup. So why are people insisting they don’t use whitening cream? These days, body makeup is a basic thing for celebrities.”
- “Since they are going global, idols and actresses’ obsession with being fair is heavily mocked overseas.”
- “Your natural skin tone isn’t the same all over your body, so it just seems like people are overreacting.”
