Paper Short Abstract:

Examining advocacy advertisements in the Seoul Metro, this paper explores how citizens 'unwrite' commercial urban spaces in contemporary South Korea. Drawing on Lefebvre's 'right to the city', the research analyzes how fandom and civic groups challenge top-down spatial control through strategic public communication interventions.

Paper Abstract:

Urban advertising spaces are typically dominated by commercial interests and unavailable for regular dwellers' spatial expression. The Seoul Metro, the subway service in South Korea's capital, however, has witnessed various attempts to place advocacy advertisements by individuals and civic groups, who thus 'unwrite' the hegemonic rules of urban communication. Drawing on Lefebvre's concept of the 'right to the city', this paper examines how these advocacy advertisements by individuals and civic groups problematize subway users' exclusion from commercialized urban surfaces, challenging top-down spatial control through citizen-led reimagining of public spaces.

The research tracks how a fad for fandom subway ads to congratulate K-pop idols on their birthdays evolved into broader advocacy efforts by non-fans. In the 2010s, advertisements emerged on polarizing issues—critiquing women's discrimination, addressing inter-Korean relations, and supporting sexual minorities—generating intense public debates, occasionally even escalating to street protests, regardless of whether they were placed or rejected. By analyzing placed and rejected advertisements, evolving Metro guidelines, and the resulting controversies, the paper illuminates the ongoing negotiations between public and private interests in neoliberalized South Korea. These citizen interventions reveal the complex politics of urban communication, demonstrating how urban residents can challenge corporate control over public spaces and reimagine urban spatial possibilities through strategic 'unwriting' of commercial urban surfaces.