Explicit Appearance Evaluations... This Time, the Controversy Over the 'Jeotso One-piece' Female Webtoon

The female character Milky, featured in a webtoon produced by the Milk Self-Help Fund Management Committee for promotional purposes, appears wearing a tight, spotted dress reminiscent of a dairy cow, sparking controversy.
[Photo by Milk Self-Help Fund Management Committee]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] The Milk Industry Promotion Committee, an organization promoting milk consumption, has sparked controversy by publishing a webtoon that associates women with dairy cows.

According to the dairy industry on the 11th, the Milk Industry Promotion Committee had been running the 'Chunbong-ri Milky' series in the webtoon section of its homepage until that day.

The first episode of this series, produced in 2014 and titled 'Chunbong-ri People,' features a female character named 'Milky.' This character appears wearing a tight, spotted dress reminiscent of a dairy cow.

In the webtoon, when Milky asks for directions, male characters nearby blatantly evaluate and admire Milky's appearance.

After this webtoon content became known belatedly, the Milk Industry Promotion Committee became the target of criticism. Responses indicated that this was no different from the previous criticism Seoul Milk faced for comparing women to dairy cows.

There were also criticisms regarding the lack of gender sensitivity, pointing out the appearance of provocative clothing and appearance evaluations unrelated to the content.

In response to the controversy, the Milk Industry Promotion Committee deleted and made the webtoon private.

Meanwhile, following Seoul Milk's recent advertisement, voices demanding a reestablishment of awareness regarding gender sensitivity have been growing throughout the milk industry.

On the 29th of last month, Seoul Milk posted an advertisement that seemed to compare women to dairy cows, which received heavy criticism.

In the video, a man films women dressed in pure white clothes on a pristine pasture in Gangwon Province. After the man steps on a branch causing a sound, one woman turns her head, and then all the other women and men in the pasture transform into dairy cows.

Once this advertisement was released, some criticized it, saying it incited 'misogyny' by likening women to dairy cows.

In response, on the afternoon of the 8th, Seoul Milk issued an official apology on its homepage, stating, "We sincerely apologize to those who felt uncomfortable with the advertisement video," and added, "We will pay close attention to prevent similar issues from occurring."

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