To date, across the fandom, ARMYs have run more than 600 charity projects, organised by fanbase teams representing their individual countries and specific charity groups like BTS For Charity or Singapore’s Borahae Team. In 2017, they launched the Love Myself campaign with UNICEF, which aims to end violence against children and teenagers. They give in the name of BTS, inspired by the band’s own philanthropic efforts – over the years, the seven-piece have quietly donated money to schools, animal and children’s charities, disaster relief and more. Theirs is a fanbase that have made themselves experts in charity projects and fundraising drives, while also creating groups to help those within the fandom and the band themselves. While no fanbase is a perfect haven from the toxicities of stan culture, these and more show not all collective action within them is bad.īTS’ ARMY, meanwhile, have used the power of fandom for better on an enormous scale. Adam Lambert’s fans have been sending care packages to cancer patients since 2015.
Blackpink’s Blinks ran a project earlier this year to help those affected by the Taal volcano in the Philippines.
To name a few, every year on Harry Styles’ birthday, his fans donate to a cause in his name. It also overlooks young people’s history of spearheading revolution and how diverse these fanbases actually are.įandoms largely associated with that tired, misogynistic stereotype (and some who aren’t) have long been harnessing their collective power for good. The wider world might be surprised to see these online fandoms operating in this way but, in part, that reveals an unconscious bias towards those communities – one that sees them as just “screaming teenage girls” and doesn’t take into account that stanning is only one aspect of their personhood, and not one that automatically negates intelligence, morals, kindness, drive or power. Most impressively of all, BTS’ ARMY following matched the band’s $1 million donation to BLM with lightning speed, drawing admiration from across the internet. K-pop fans have been credited with new acts of activism – they’ve taken down apps created by police to obtain info on Black Lives Matter protestors, flooded racist and white supremacist hashtags with fancams of idol groups and, now, played the Trump campaign into thinking thousands more people wanted to come to his half-empty Tulsa rally than actually showed.
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The last few weeks, however, have seen a series of stories that challenge the general public’s perceptions of stans. It’s one where small disagreements can morph into virtual bloodbaths, cyber bullying and prejudice is rife, and some super-fans defend their heroes with often overzealous reactions. If you’ve spent any length of time on Twitter, you’ve probably seen examples of the toxic side of stan culture – the side that is usually highlighted to the world.
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