There is no doubt that “Descendants of the Sun” actor Song Joong-ki is the most popular celebrity in China and South Korea today, which is why the producer of the 16-episode blockbuster is running after companies that illegally use images of the show and its cast on their products.
Yonhap News reported that NEW, the production company behind the popular Korean Hallyu, is filing lawsuits against businesses that breached NEW’s rights to control the publicity rights, or the rights to control the commercial use of “Descendants of the Sun’s” identity. The production firm is currently collecting evidence which it would later present to authorities.
NEW accused businesses of all shapes and sizes in South Korea and China of taking advantage of the show’s success by advertising products using scenes taken from the show without its permission. Most of the time, their products have nothing to do with the show, said an official of NEW.
The violators include official sponsors of the show. One such sponsor is J.ESTINA, a jewelry maker which used the image of Song Hye kyo taken from the show without NEW’s permission or her permission. J. ESTINA showed a copy of its sponsorship contract with NEW, but the production company said that the jewel maker must ask permission separately from the actress to use her image.
A NEW official pointed out that “We never allowed J.ESTINA to use Song’s personality rights without her permission.”
The two Songs hold the most brand power in April, according to a study of 24 advertisement models with almost 64 million data results for the period March 28 through April 29. The research was done by the Korean Business Research Institute in which Song Joong-ki was in first place.
He was followed by Song Hye kyo and in third place is Seolhyun, a member of AOA, reported Soompi. In determining brand power, the institute analyzed data from the brand, communication value, media value and social value. Then it compiled the data into an index of the extent of the model’s reach.
Why Song Joong-ki topped the list is not surprising because every day the past week, he had a new commercial or endorsement that came out. There are clothing brand TopTen10, water purifier Ruhe, BEE clothing, Baskin Robbins Ice Cream, Domino’s Pizza and Chinese cosmetic brand Proya. On Sunday, his commercial for Jeju Air came out.