A leaked video of members Jhoanna, Stacey, and Colette made rounds online due to alleged sexual jokes and remarks involving a 13-year-old. PHOTO: @BINI_PH/ INSTAGRAM
MANILA – There are many ways to send the Nation’s Girl Group off for a world tour: a thanksgiving mass, recognition from the Forbes 30 under 30 list, and endless adoration from fans back home. Being at the center of a controversy many deem as “unforgivable” is not one of them, but it happened to Bini anyway as they prepared to take on the Biniverse World Tour. Why? Because of a recent scandal and an apparent gap in media training.
A leaked video of members Jhoanna, Stacey, and Colette made rounds online due to alleged sexual jokes and remarks involving a 13-year-old. Aside from their addictive bubblegum pop music and remarkable achievements in the local and international music scene, Bini’s also known for their commitment to women empowerment as an advocacy. Thus, laughing alongside male friends at harmful jokes was enough to warrant anger and disappointment.
One day after the video’s virality, Bini apologized on their group’s social media pages, while the male friends also posted apologies on their own accounts. Despite owning up to the situation, people were not satisfied, citing a lack of accountability by posting on the group page instead of their individual social media accounts.
This is not Bini’s first time to find themselves in hot water. In the past, fans have felt offended by the members directly replying to their complaints about the group’s management and overpriced concert tickets or merchandise. Another instance involving a member telling her fans they had no right to tell them who to date or befriend received mixed responses due to the controversial background of the rumored fling.
No one would bat an eye at this no-BS approach of calling fans out when they’re overstepping boundaries—if Bini were not marketed as the Philippines’ answer to K-pop idol groups. While Bini is proudly and distinctly P-Pop, the group and its management borrow from the Hallyu wave in more ways than one: from training methodologies to promotional strategies, and even the fanbase they have today.
Since they have K-pop-style debut preparations, promotions, and fans, it’s been a running conversation among Blooms and critics alike that Bini needs Hallyu-esque media training. When hardcore fanatics hear this, they often feel that people are just asking for Bini to censor themselves, dismissing valid criticism as worship for “pagpaplastikan.” However, media training goes beyond just having go-to interview answers or memorizing scripts.
‘Censorship’ under a different light
“[People feel like] you just say yes to whatever the media is saying, or that you have to be under what they want […] but it’s a two-way street. You have to be able to get your message across and at the same time, get what [public figures] want to say also,” shares Arkel Mendoza, a marketing professor and the director of Ateneo de Manila University’s communication technology management program.
To Mendoza, media training is the acknowledgment that the media industry is a different ballpark, with its own language and technicalities.
In the K-pop industry, media training turns idols into holistic entertainers: It helps them sharpen their wit for comedic variety shows, establish reliable personal branding that attracts high-profile advertisements, prepare them to promote for a wider audience, and learn how to respond to controversies. Conversely, many scandals stem from gaps in media training, from cultural appropriation as a result of insufficient cultural sensitivity to accusations of tactlessness during interviews. K-pop media training can also benefit from more progressiveness, especially by allowing idols to be more outspoken and publicly informed on social issues.
As the entertainment industry adapts to changing technology, media training helps public figures navigate different social media and online spaces. Bini’s controversies could have been easily avoided with media training. While the leaked video can be considered an invasion of privacy, anything posted online will be subject to public scrutiny, especially for celebrities.
“If you’re a celebrity, you automatically become public property,” says Mendoza. While celebrities like the Bini members are entitled to their privacy and freedom of speech, they’ll naturally be held to higher standards as they find themselves in higher places fame-wise. After all, there’s a reason idols are called idols: They represent fantasies worth idolizing.
Parasocial relationships and ever-diminishing boundaries
Fans of Bini themselves also see that media training can do more good than harm. “You’re supposed to be accessible and relatable, but where do you draw the line?” Kristine, a long-time fan of both P-pop and K-pop groups, asks.
For her, Bini’s “kalye humor” has been a breath of fresh air, but great fame comes with great responsibility. After the leaked video controversy, Kristine realized why K-pop was so strict with matters such as idols’ online presence. Unlike K-pop, which has dedicated paid platforms to communicate with fans, Bini would use their personal accounts, giving them a sense of accessibility previously unseen between fan-idol relationships.
“When you’re a public figure, you have so many eyes on you, and [not all of them] will see you in a good light,” says Kristine. As a Bloom herself, she knows that the group doesn’t have bad intentions or ill will towards their fans, but she also understands how things could look much less favorable from an outsider’s perspective.
No matter the generation or medium of communication, conversations on boundaries between fans and idols are timeless. In this situation, there are many ways for boundaries to be discussed and interpreted. Some may argue that boundaries involve ensuring that fans don’t get access to private life matters. On the flip side, boundaries might also mean reminding public figures that they’re above making “patol” to overstepping fans or antis. Kristine believes that the P-pop industry at large can benefit from finding the “tamang timpla between being relatable and reminding yourself that ‘hey, you’re an idol now’.”
Filipinos tend to love celebrities who feel “real,” even when authenticity comes at the price of tact. According to Mendoza, the more genuine a public figure looks online, the more people buy into them. “As Filipinos, we love the drama,” he shares, adding that we collectively like to pit people against each other despite not needing to do so.
Ultimately, fanhood and stardom alike are at their best with the right amount of distance. Being a fan often comes with high levels of admiration towards public figures who champion ideals. Similarly, stardom implies that someone is already “up there” to be considered a star. While authenticity draws people in, not knowing the difference between that and hurting others can push these same people away.
Asia News Network/Philippine Daily Inquirer
