"The Hand Gesture of the Woman in the Center..." Pyeongtaek City Recalls and Revises All Posters Amid 'Namhyum' Controversy

Pyeongtaek City "No Intent to Misandry but Deeply Regrets Causing Discomfort to Citizens"

Controversial poster (left) and revised poster (right) [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Choyoung] Pyeongtaek City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 17th that it has recalled all promotional posters for a contest that recently sparked controversy due to the 'anti-male hand gesture,' revised them, and redistributed the corrected versions.

The revised posters had the problematic image removed and contained only text guiding the Resident Participation Budget Contest. The city produced and distributed 23 promotional banners, 200 posters, and 4,000 flyers using the revised images.

A Pyeongtaek City official stated, "The external agency that originally produced the posters covered the costs and reproduced all of them. Although there was no intention of male hatred, we deeply regret causing discomfort to the citizens."

The controversy arose on the 11th when a post titled "Pyeongtaek City, isn't the hand gesture very strange?" along with a poster was uploaded to the online community 'Bobae Dream.'

The poster in the post was commissioned by Pyeongtaek City last month on the 5th to promote the Resident Participation Budget Contest. It featured the phrase "Residents propose and residents select the Resident Participation Budget" along with images of six citizens. However, the hand gesture of a woman in the center was pointed out to resemble the recently controversial 'anti-male finger' gesture, sparking debate.

The hand gesture is used by users of the online community 'Megalia' to disparage a specific male body part of Korean men. Recently, similar images appeared in promotional materials for the convenience store GS25 and the police, further fueling the controversy.

At the time, the external agency explained, "We simply used the image provided by the design company, paying royalties, without any modification or special intent." However, the controversy expanded when it was confirmed that the 'anti-male hand gesture' image on the GS25 convenience store promotional poster was also provided by the same agency.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.