Following the drop of teasers for the members of SM Entertainment's upcoming girl group Aespa, a photographer has come out and expressed his dissatisfaction with how similar the teasers are with a past photoshoot he has done.
On October 26, Tuesday, SM Entertainment dropped teasers for Aespa's first confirmed member, Winter. Her teaser shows her sitting in the middle of futuristic-looking flowers with a starry sky as the background. The teaser has beautiful shades of pink, blue, and purple, making her look ethereal. Every day since then, SM Entertainment has been dropping member teasers with the same concept.
The teasers are said to relate to Aespa's concept. Aespa's version is called 'avatar', in which the girls meet another version of themselves - AI versions - and experience a new world. It is speculated that the setting they are in the supposed new world.
While many people had found the teasers aesthetically wonderful, a Toronto-based photographer named Bryan Hyunh has come out on Instagram stories comparing how similar the teasers are with a shot from his pictorial with Paper Magazine X Euphoria. His photoshoot with the magazine was released in June 2019.
While he does not outright accuse Aespa and SM Entertainment of plagiarism, he does sound skeptical that SM Entertainment came up with the idea themselves. His Instagram story reads, "Hmm @aespa official. This is why I only stan BLACKPINK!"
Netizens have also reacted to the similarities of the photos, with many unable to deny that the photos are just too similar for it to be a coincidence.
Read their comments here:
"Wow... This really isn't SM Entertainment's year."
"Did you think they'd get away with it?"
"The color, composition, and design are too similar. I would be so pissed if I was the original photographer."
"SM is really going through a lot right now, huh?"
"The photographer is right. That is plagiarism. SM, please get your head straight."
"LOL he really said 'this is why I only stan BLACKPINK'."
"What is wrong with SM? Do they not have people who study design or work in the field? It's almost as if the art director in charge is trying to deliberately give SM a hard time. I guess they didn't prepare as much since they are advertising the groups as rookies and are just copying other people's creations."
However, some netizens claimed the idea in itself is not original. If people were to search for fairylands or mystical places with purple and pink colors, numerous images would come with a similar concept. Because of that, they claim it is hard for the photographer to take all the credit.
Read their comments here:
"If you think of a dreamy purple image, you can easily imagine something like that. There are many pictures like that on the internet."
"If you search up purple and pink avatar themed images right now, there are many photos with a similar concept. This isn't anything new."
"There are many photos like this online."
What do you think of the situation?
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Written by Alexa L.
