A scene from tvN’s hit series “Queen of Tears” shows its main character Baek Hyun-woo (Kim Soo-hyun) crying after drinking beer. Courtesy of tvN
By Lee Gyu-lee
Scenes of characters exchanging drinks in dramas or celebrities sharing personal lives over alcohol on YouTube talk shows are easy to find these days.
In the popular drama “Queen of Tears,” the character Baek Hyun-woo (Kim Soo-hyun) is a lawyer from a rural background married to a leading chaebol heiress, Hong Hae-in. He frequently finds solace in meeting an old friend in front of a convenience store, where they share beers and discuss the difficulties of his marriage. Such scenes of characters drinking together are a staple in Korean dramas, often used as a narrative device where characters open up about their deepest troubles over drinks.
However, as drinking-related content grows in popularity and features some of the country’s top stars, experts and fans alike are voicing concerns that this trend could be pushing an already alcohol-friendly culture too far — especially for impressionable young viewers who are tuning in.
According to a recent report by the Korea Health Promotion Institute (KHPI), which reviewed about 556 of the top shows by viewership ranking over the past five years, 488 of them contained scenes with alcohol, which accounts for 88 percent.
In detail, out of the following shows’ total of 11,587 episodes, about 6,558 of them featured drinking scenes, which makes up 56.6 percent, with a total of 12,018 scenes overall.
Among them, the institute has reported 86 cases of problematic drinking scenes. The broadcasting review regulations define a scene as problematic if it shows a positive portrayal of alcohol, negative behavior or harmful behavior while drinking, promotion of underage drinking, or commercial purposes.
Ryujin of K-pop group Itzy, left, drinks during an episode of YouTube show “Nothing Prepared.” Screenshot from YouTube
Meanwhile, streaming service shows, which fall under different regulation laws than broadcasting services, had on average 3.4 drinking scenes per episode just last year, according to the institute’s monitoring. About 82 out of 100 episodes depicted drinking scenes, with a total of 338 scenes.
Rep. Nam In-soon of the Democratic Party of Korea, who made the report public, noted that despite the concerning agencies’ efforts to set measures, the gray areas make them ineffective.
“The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the KHPI revised their guidelines for drinking scenes in media last year, adding sections such as age restrictions and warning messages. But there are still legal blind spots since these guidelines are not mandatory for streaming services and YouTube,” she said.
When rapper Lee Young-ji, who is well-known as the “Gen Z icon,” stirred enormous buzz by starting her YouTube show “Nothing Prepared” in 2022, inviting celebrities to share their stories over drinks, many other YouTube variety shows featuring alcohol started to emerge.
The phenomenon even coined the word, “sool bang,” which translates to “drinking show” in Korean, with popular celebrities running their own YouTube shows like Shin Dong-yup’s “Zzan Bro,” Sung Si-kyung’s “We Would Meet,” Jo Hyun-ah’s “Thursday Night,” Kian 84’s “Drinking Interview” and Soyou’s “Guesthouse.”
SHINee members Key, left, and Minho drink soju on MBC’s reality show “I Live Alone.” Screenshot from YouTube
With the popularity of these shows, they have become one of the main channels for actors and singers to promote their new works, granting the shows opportunities to feature A-list guest stars. Lee’s channel has 3.93 million subscribers, whereas Sung has 2.01 million and Shin has 1.59 million.
Pop culture critic Ha Jae-geun noted that the viewers’ desire to get a peek into celebrities’ personal lives led to such shows’ popularity.
“Since drinking shows were considered taboo in the past, breaking this taboo feels fresh and stimulating,” he said.
“People feel that these drinking shows allow for more honest and free conversations compared to following a strict script. There’s a perception that they share more authentic stories than scripted content.”
Despite its popularity, he pointed out that such shows can further push for positive perceptions of alcohol and even encourage minors to consume alcohol in a country that already has a heavy drinking culture.
“Since this type of content inevitably influences viewers, repeatedly showing people drinking can make viewers accept drinking as more normal and friendly. Given that Korea is already criticized for being too lenient toward alcohol consumption, and with reports of alcohol being a carcinogenic substance, continuously featuring alcohol in content that many young people can watch could be problematic as it might even promote underage drinking,” he said.
A scene from “Zzan Bro” / Screenshot from YouTube
As the critic pointed out, KHPI reported that all 100 of last year’s most-viewed videos from searches with keywords, like “sool bang” or “broadcasting with alcohol,” contained problematic drinking portrayals with none having age restrictions, allowing minors to be exposed to such scenes.
With the growing number of shows featuring alcohol consumption, many viewers have also expressed their concerns about the shows, especially as they often feature K-pop stars and actors who have a lot of younger fans.
“Drinking content is dangerous. While TV only shows alcohol commercials late at night, drinking scenes can appear at any time. That’s bad enough, but celebrities that kids love appear drinking; how can it not have an influence on them?” a user wrote online.
“When the host and guest (on those shows) talk about which alcohol they like and how much they drink, and later get drunk with blushes and slurred speech — is that really something we want to see?”
Another K-pop fan wrote: “I really hate it when my bias, or favorite idol, appears on drinking shows, but because these shows are trending, we can’t even express our dislike. At the very least, they shouldn’t let minors watch. It’s not good to familiarize young people with drinking from an early age.”
As concerns rise, calls for additional measures on drinking culture exposure in media are also mounting. However, critic Ha expressed it would not be easy to implement the measures right away, as the issue has been brought to people’s attention recently.
“It’s quite a challenging issue. Due to freedom of expression, it’s difficult to implement direct regulations. First, we should probably organize age ratings better. Then, the industry needs to develop self-regulation to avoid excessive promotion of alcohol,” he said.
“And if the problem becomes even more serious later on, we might need to consider placing some form of direct regulations, but that’s something we need to discuss further.”
