27th October 2026 – (Seoul) BLACKPINK member Lisa has pushed her solo merch into rare territory with an official thong tied to her new album PRESS PLAY, priced at US$25 – about HK$196 – and promptly divided fans over how far idol commerce should go.
As she expands her personal music career around the album’s release, a run of official products has gone on sale. Among them is an item listed as PRESS PLAY THONG. On the artist’s site the underwear carries that US dollar tag, roughly HK$196 at the conversion cited alongside the listing – a figure that quickly became the price tag attached to the row.
Traditional K-pop sidelines lean on photocards, posters, clothes and light sticks. Putting intimate underwear on the official rack is far rarer, and the move is being cast as a break with the usual Korean idol business playbook. That novelty alone was enough to send the listing into heated online debate about where the boundary of idol merchandise ought to sit – and whether a music release should still stop at posters and light sticks.
Some netizens said the scale was simply too bold. Supporters answered that a daring, spicy line fits Lisa’s established personal charm and her Western fashion positioning – and that the product is of a piece with the image she has been building off the group stage. For that camp, the thong is brand consistency rather than a sudden lurch; the split is less about whether the garment exists than about whether it belongs in a teen-heavy idol shop.
Critics focused on her large underage following. They questioned whether openly selling such private clothing could set a poor example for younger audiences – a “negative demonstration”, in the charge that travelled with the story – and argued that an international star of her reach should carry more responsibility for positive modelling. In that reading, the thong is not only a fashion accessory but a message about what fans are invited to buy into.
