The BBC also paid attention to YouTuber Freesia, who caused controversy over allegations of fakes.

On the 16th local time, the BBC analyzed the controversy through an article titled 'The reason why the fake rich girl Freesia made Korea angry'.



Previously, Freesia appeared on Netflix's love program 'Solo Hell', and she emerged as a hot topic.

However, controversy arose when some of the clothes and accessories he showed in 'Solo Hell' and SNS and YouTube contents were found to be fakes.




In the end, Freesia partially acknowledged the allegations of fakes, deleted all YouTube content and social media photos, and bowed her head.

Although he posted a handwritten apology and a video of his apology, a video in the past that referred to kimchi as 'pao chai (pickled vegetables in Chinese)' was found, and criticism continued, and rumors surrounding his family also surfaced.



In response, the BBC introduced Freesia as 'It Girl' and said, "Freesia was criticized in Korea for using fakes. His career was completely ruined by this behavior. Korea's 'gold spoon' envy culture ruined her." We analyzed the controversy.




The BBC explains that the term 'gold spoon' comes from an English expression that refers to those who have the privilege of being born with a silver spoon in their mouth, and defined it as a person belonging to the top 1% of South Korea's high-income bracket.

Then, Korean netizens criticized Freesia for ignoring the designer's efforts and using fakes to damage the brand value, but the core of the criticism was that she felt betrayed by the fact that Freesia, who showed her luxurious daily life through social media, was not actually rich.



Local critics said that the controversy shows the class culture that is entrenched in Korean society and said, "People were attracted to Freesia as a gold spoon and followed her. I felt vicarious satisfaction watching the movie, and when it was revealed that it was a fake, people’s ambitions were also destroyed.”




Then, citing the successful global box office hits of the Korean drama 'Squid Game' and the movie 'Parasite', he said, "The media also contains Korea's class culture divided into gold and earth spoons. Currently, Koreans do not think that if they work hard, they will succeed. There is a tendency to believe that the only way to live well is to have rich parents," he explained, explaining Korea's 'gold spoon' envy culture.



On the 29th of last month, Freesia published the results of the Korea Luxury Appraisal Institute's investigation into 20 products that were suspected of being counterfeit through a media outlet.

As a result, 12 were found to be genuine, 8 were fake, and 1 was unverifiable. In particular, the luxury watches, jewelry, and bags of Freesia, which were suspected of being fakes online, were found to be genuine with actual department store purchases.



(Photo=Netflix, BBC homepage capture, YouTube 'Free Jia')



(SBS Substar)



(SBS Entertainment News editor Jina-yoon)