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Makers of Nam Ji-hyun-starrer Little Women have released an apology after being called out for plagiarizing their poster designs. The poster features three sisters in the show — In-joo, In-kyung, and In-hye — walking towards a destination that is not visible to the viewer. This poster looks eerily similar to the 2016 poster released by Shiseido, an Asian cosmetics brand predominantly sold in the US and European markets.
The similarities were noticed by fans who took to social media to share their observations about the posters. Many fans took to Korean online discussion forums to point out that the poster was not merely inspired by the original release in 2016 but even recreated the same themes, such as the light and dark pastel shades.
Little Women has received positive reviews from the audience
In their short statement, the makers of the tvN K-drama explained,
“The poster illustrates the three sisters walking towards a brighter future and was used as a teaser poster for the drama. The design team made the poster after several deliberations. We will be thorough in the future and be careful not to let this happen again.”
This is unfortunate for the show, which has been well received by the audience. The show surrounds the lives of three sisters and how they manage to escape their unfortunate fate. For now, the show centers on In-joo and In-kyung. Their professional lives will intersect when the two realize that the accountant's death in the former's company and the latter's embezzlement investigation have a connection.
So far, the only hint that the show has provided is a blue orchid that appears everywhere. In addition, the man who assists In-joo — Choi Do-il (Wi Ha-joon) — also seems to ally with mayoral candidate Park Jae-sang (Uhm Ki-joon).
It is also to be seen if the three sisters will overcome their respective struggles in Little Women. For one, the upcoming episode will see In-kyung trying to stop her sister In-joo from taking ownership of the 2 billion Won that her dead colleague had left behind for her.
Translation of fans' reaction to alleged plagiarism by makers of Little Women
As most of the reactions to the issue are in Korean, here is a brief translation of some comments. One of the fans lamented that outright copying of creative assets has increased recently and said this would harm the country's tradition of rich cultural content.
Another fan noted that the similarities did not stop with the theme and the design, but even the outfits donned by the sketch of the three lead characters in Little Women were similar to that of the original poster.
