Kakao Friends
Kakao Friends (stylized as KAKAO FRIENDS; ) are featured characters based on KakaoTalk emoticons released in November 2012 by Kakao. The copyrights of the characters are currently owned and managed by Kakao's subsidiary Kakao IX, which was formerly named Kakao Friends prior to an inter-subsidiary acquisition in 2018. The character illustrator is Kwon Soon-ho, also known by his pen name Hozo. Kakao Friends has been used in various products and commercials, and has gained popularity and have become beloved characters in South Korea. Characters. Kakao Friends characters were developed in about two months after the idea  meeting in July 2012 began. Products and shop. Many Kakao Friends products have been produced, ranging from foods, games, household supplies, finance, and more. Beginning in Sinchon in April 2014, the company opened a store in the form of a pop-up store in major department stores in major cities such as Daegu and Busan, and several stores were established as regular stores. In addition to the character products sold in stores, KaKao Friends characters are used in collaboration with other companies in other fields. In May 2021, Kakao VX has started a premium golf driving range business using Kakao  Friends characters. In 2018, Kakao has released Kakao Little Friends Phone, a smartphone dedicated to elementary school students that has enhanced protection for their children. Kakao Little Friends Phone was released up to version 4 by 2021. Controversy. Kakao series. After seeing the structure in which Daum Kakao owns all the copyrights of Kakao Friends, the character illustrators do not receive profits from the sale of Kakao Friends character products, some criticized whether it was the second Cloud Bread incident. However, the Daum Kakao official said that Daum Kakao had all the copyrights at the time of the first contract  with the HOZO writer. Although the Kakao Talk emoticon revenue is shared, the Kakao Friends business does not pay a separate fee to the artist. The author also stated that he is in a position to avoid controversy about this issue. Niniz series. It has been embroiled in controversy that it promotes violence and cruelty on social media. The fact that the character description of 'Panda', whose last name is 'only one', contains the phrase, "The goal is to dry out all the polar bears," and Cobb & Panya, introduced as a detective duo, "has a stalker temperament and likes to  follow. ", etc. has been raised. People criticized it, pointing out that the main users of the character were minors.