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Cannix Yau

Jess Ma

Hong Kong’s prison service has twice withdrawn an anti-drug video featuring a beautiful AI-generated virtual K-pop girl group from social media after internet users said it resembled a promotion campaign for illegal substances.
The Correctional Services Department uploaded the controversial video, titled “Obsession: The Sugar-Coated Trap”, to its social media platforms on Friday.
In the video, four pretty AI-generated virtual K-pop idols in fancy clothes sing and dance. One, named “Cannabis”, says: “With a romantic puff of smoke [from grass], only one stick will help you forget all worries. Very chilled.”
Another one, named “Ice”, says that trying her will “guarantee you feel so good your soul leaves your body”.


The department quickly removed and revised the video after social media users said it appeared to promote drug use rather than discourage it.
The revised version shows the four band members turning into ugly old men who are later locked up behind bars and ends with a slogan: “Drugs are extremely harmful and can ruin a life.”
However, it was also removed from the department’s Facebook page on Saturday evening. The department later posted a statement thanking internet users for their opinions and apologising for the video’s production and delivery.
“In the future, we will evaluate our entire process for producing promotional content for social media, and will ensure the message of crime prevention and education is clear and accurate,” the administrator of the department’s Facebook page said.
“We will also balance creativity and the public’s level of acceptance.”
The department said in the post that the video had been removed.


The move elicited positive online comments from residents, with some praising the department for its prompt response and others saying the intended promotional effect was achieved with the attention the video attracted.
“I appreciate the administrator for admitting the mistake. A government should be like this, as citizens will accept this. We would be more disappointed if you didn’t admit it,” a user named “Noopy Sugar” wrote.
A department spokesman said the video was created using artificial intelligence (AI) and aimed to show that “through a method popular with young people, that drug use is poison packaged in a sugar-coated form, reminding them not to be tempted by it”.
“The Correctional Services Department took netizens’ opinions on the way the anti-drug video was presented very seriously and immediately re-edited the video to explain the harm of drugs as much as possible to avoid misunderstandings,” he said.
He added since the film was handled in-house by staff responsible for multimedia production and social media management, it did not involve additional public funds.
The spokesman said the department would continue to review and optimise its publicity strategies to more effectively promote its work on social media platforms.
In March, the Security Bureau apologised for an advertising blunder in an anti-drug campaign, after a banner in Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station appeared to encourage the use of illegal substances when viewed from certain angles.
The banner was part of the government’s latest anti-drug campaign, featuring one of Hong Kong’s “Four Heavenly Kings” of Cantopop, Aaron Kwok Fu-shing, and the slogan “Let’s stand firm together and not take drugs” written in Chinese.
In the photo, which went viral online, some words in the slogan cannot be seen because of the angle, leaving the message: “Stand firm together and take drugs.”


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Internet users say the original video looks more like a drugs promotion campaign. Photo: Facebook/Correctional Services Department

The re-edited version has the pretty girls morphing into ugly old men. Photo: Facebook/Correctional Services Department

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Society

Beautiful AI-generated virtual K-pop girl group appears to be promoting use of illegal substances, not discouraging it, social media users say


Beautiful AI-generated virtual K-pop girl group appears to be promoting use of illegal substances, not discouraging it, social media users say.


AI K-pop video pulled after anti-drug message backfires for Hong Kong prison service

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Beautiful AI-generated virtual K-pop girl group appears to be promoting use of illegal substances, not discouraging it, social media users say

Beautiful AI-generated virtual K-pop girl group appears to be promoting use of illegal substances, not discouraging it, social media users say