A television advertisement featuring K-pop sensation Blackpink clad in miniskirts has raised many eyebrows in the conservative Muslim country with the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission issuing a ban on the ad.
According to sources, on Wednesday, the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission ordered 11 domestic TV channels to remove the commercial, promoting Shopee, an online retailer in Southeast Asia stating the ad to be indecent and violating the Muslim country's moral principles. The commission stated that "the broadcasters had an obligation to pay attention to norms and standards of decency as mentioned in the commission's guidelines and standards".
The ban comes in response to an online petition started by a woman regarding the dress worn by the girls in the 30-second ad "Shopee Road to 12.12 Birthday Sale" which gathered nearly 100,000 people signing the petition calling for a ban on the ad.
Further to the ban, a source from Shoppe described the ban as "very valuable input" but reiterated the fact that the commercial was approved by another Government agency before being aired on domestic channels.
The ban has triggered a huge backlash from fans on social media who have started a counter-petition to lift the ban. The petition has nearly 90,000 people vouching for the view that Blackpink's dress is not vulgar or distasteful of Indonesian culture. Many fans claim the ban to be "ridiculous" and pointed at the various TV shows to be "morally offensive" than the miniskirts of K-pop girls.
Within two years of their launch, Blackpink has become a rage among youngsters in Southeast Asian countries and is often termed as the "national girl group of Indonesia". Blackpink recently made history by becoming the first girls K-pop group to hit the Billboard Hot 100 placing at Number 55.
