Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
In response to the ongoing saga of Blockberry Creative kicking member Chuu from the group, the contract injunction nine members reportedly filed, and alleged general mistreatment of LOONA, the group’s fandom have responded by declaring a boycott of the group’s announced comeback in 2023.
A fan union was formed this month demanding response from Blockberry, and since their requests were not met, they released a statement that the boycott would go through.
Normally I’m skeptical about fandom boycotts for a multitude of reasons. Mostly that a fandom will have to be united and organized effectively enough to pull it off, but there’s also the concern that the company would just see it as a reason to scrap the group and effectively punish the members more than anything. However, as fans have pointed out, the company isn’t paying LOONA members for their work after all these years anyway and there are indications from the members themselves that they aren’t happy about this.
Hyunjin (12:35PM KST)
— 💫 Orrery/nim (@orrery_nim) December 7, 2022
“Comeback ..
😧
😨
💆🏻♀️
Better calm my mind with yoga
🧘🏻♀️”
(t/n: Earlier she mentioned having yoga today)
Blockberry has also seemed to handle LOONA poorly enough that it has galvanized a lot of their fanbase to unite behind the cause of hating the company, which is a remarkable feat in itself.
Still, for it to be effective, results would have to be seen. Fortunately it seems to be working to some degree if pre-order numbers are anything to go by, as they show a 98% decrease from one site that tracks them.
Additionally, LOONA’s fandom has worked with overseas distributors to not carry the album.
Obviously there’s still a long way to go, especially if the company actually gets worried about sales and starts using other tactics (forcing members to show support, buying albums to give the impression nobody else is boycotting, the song/music video being great, etc). However, this is a potentially important event because a fandom being able to achieve change for their artists against a company through collective action would be a milestone.
Anyway, I wish LOONA fans the best in this endeavor, and at least I hope they can make Blockberry sweat for somehow being so shitty it even got to this point.
