Rookie K-Pop Girl Group’s Song Banned From Public Broadcast Twice Before It Was Even Released
Rookie K-Pop girl group PRIMROSE announced their first-ever comeback at the end of July. While there was much to be excited about for their comeback, the group ran into issues when they could not get their song title approved for broadcast.
PRIMROSE debuted with members Yeum and Ruby in January. Shortly after their debut, Yeum left the group due to health issues.
In the interim, their company A.O Entertainment announced that Ruby would promote as a soloist until additional members joined.
Following Yeum’s departure, former HOT ISSUE‘s Nahyun, former BugAboo‘s Rainie, and Hayun joined the group, making PRIMROSE a quartet.
Their August 18th comeback marks PRIMROSE’s first as a four-member group, and their title track, “LAFFY TAFFY,” was confirmed in July.
Korean broadcast is known for its strict rules and regulations regarding product placement and the appearance or mention of brand names.
Due to this, some K-Pop songs have had to change their lyrics to be approved for broadcast, such as f(x) changing their “Caterpillar” lyric in “Red Light” to no longer reference the American equipment manufacturer. EXO also had to promote their track “Lotto” as “Louder” since Lotto is the name of a large Korean corporation.
PRIMROSE’s “LAFFY TAFFY” was banned from broadcast due to sharing the same name as the American brand of taffy candy.
To overcome their ban, A.O Entertainment attempted to change the song’s name to “Laaffy Taffy,” but it was again banned from broadcast.
PRIMROSE’s ‘Laffy Taffy’ was changed to ‘Laaffy Taffy’ in attempt to bypass the KBS broadcasting ban but was still banned pic.twitter.com/belHCrfGUV
— nugu promoter (@nugupromoter) August 9, 2023
Finally, the group found success and will be promoting their new song under the approved name “Taffy Taffy” on public broadcast.
PRIMROSE’s ‘Laffy Taffy’ has been approved for broadcast by KBS, under the name ‘Taffy Taffy’ pic.twitter.com/elftWEbCyU
— nugu promoter (@nugupromoter) August 16, 2023
View the latest teaser for “LAFFY TAFFY” below!
Check out more songs that were banned from public broadcast: