Government asks YouTubers to curb their drinking on camera

Industry

Published: 01 Dec. 2023, 15:23 Updated: 01 Dec. 2023, 15:55

Government asks YouTubers to curb their drinking on camera

The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Promotion Institute announced a revised guideline for showing drinking scenes in media, with two new provisions that limit excessive promotion of drinking. [SHUTTERSTOCK]

The government has published new guidelines meant to discourage YouTubers from hosting drunk talk shows. Some regard them to be unenforceable.

Local reports had previously showed that parents, in particular, are worried that seeing jovial drinking on YouTube will make their children think positively of heavy drinking culture.

As age restrictions for drinking scenes on online platforms such as YouTube are not strictly monitored and cannot be enforced by law, minors can easily access content that revolves around alcohol.

In response to the concerns, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Promotion Institute added two provisions that limit excessive promotion of drinking to their media guidelines, chalking up the total number of provisions to 12. The revised guideline was announced on Thursday.

One provision recommended that shows “minimize the exposure of contents which excessively highlight or glorify drinking to children and teenagers by applying measures such as age restrictions.” The second recommended that “the harms of drinking should be made known, such as through warning texts, regarding scenes which excessively highlight or glorify drinking.”

Screen captures of two popular drinking shows: Shin Dong-yup's "Zzanbro", left, and Lee Young Ji's "Not Much Prepared" [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Popular shows with the drinking talk show format include comedian Shin Dong-yup’s “Zzanbro,” rapper and entertainer Lee Young Ji’s “Not Much Prepared,” singer Seong Si-kyung’s “I’ll Eat,” and boy band BTS member Suga’s “Shuchwita.”

All shows have garnered massive numbers of views and subscribers. The Zzanbro YouTube channel has gained 858 thousand followers since its release three months ago.

“The new guidelines are made in consideration of YouTube and online streaming services,” said a worker at the Ministry of Health, adding that “drinking scenes are common on YouTube, but as they cannot be regulated through law, revisions were made [to the guideline] to urge voluntary abstention.”

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]