In 2017, K-pop stars BTS partnered with Unicef to launch the Love Myself campaign, which aims to end violence against children and youth. By 2021, the campaign had amassed five million tweets and more than 50 million engagements.

Two years later, in 2019, the BTS boys joined forces with Formula E as ambassadors for the world’s first electric car racing championship to help promote Formula E’s vision of combatting air pollution with eco-friendly vehicles.

That’s not all, in 2020, when the BTS Army—as their fans call themselves—raised US$1 million for the Black Lives Matter movement, BTS and Big Hit Entertainment, their management company, matched that amount in donations.

In 2021, in midst of the pandemic, BTS members also urged fans to get vaccinated at their address at the United Nations General Assembly, with J-Hope describing the vaccine as a “ticket to meeting fans”.

In 2021, Blackpink was appointed by the United Nations as an advocate for its Sustainable Development Goals. That same year, the K-pop girl group appeared in a YouTube original show celebrating the planet titled Dear Earth, in which they spoke about the immediacy of the environmental crisis and performed their 2016 single, Stay.

In September 2020, Red Velvet members, as ambassadors of UN International Day of Clean Air, released a video campaigning for pollution-free air. But the girls are vocal about other issues too.

In 2022, the group’s rapper Yeri announced her stance on the Russia-Ukraine war by posting an Instagram story that said, “No War Please”. While netizens praised Yeri for her advocacy, her bandmates who had spoken up for feminism in the past were met with far more controversial reactions from their fans.

When Red Velvet leader Irene revealed during a 2018 meet-and-greet that she’d read Cho Nam-joo’s feminist novel Kim Ji Young, Born 1982, her male followers turned to social media to vent—some even burnt merchandise featuring Irene’s face. Joy also found herself facing fans’ ire when she posted a photo of herself on Instagram wearing a Dior T-shirt with the words, “We Should All Be Feminists” earlier that same year. Some followers even urged her to quit the band, saying she’s a bad influence on the other girls.

While Irene continues to “like” feminist posts on social media to this day, Joy’s “We Should All Be Feminists” T-shirt is being sold on the Dior website and is currently priced at HK$7,400.

Singer, actress and show host Lee Hyori brings her star power to animal rights activism, drumming up support for abandoned animals and donating large sums to charities that work with animals.

In 2020, she formed a seasonal music group with singer Rain and comedian Yoo Jae-suk called SSAK3, with all proceeds from their album sales and promotions being donated to communities in need.

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