A large digital advertisement showing same-sex couples kissing and embracing each other was taken down four days after it began airing on the streets of Seoul's southern district of Gangnam due to a series of complaints.

The 20-second dating app ad first appeared on a 6-storey digital billboard set up along the streets of Gangnam's Nonhyeon-dong on Aug. 26 under a contract that calls for the ad's airing at least 100 times a day for one year.

The images showed gay and lesbian couples looking at each other, kissing and embracing, with rainbow flag and heart emojis.

But the ad was suspended Aug. 30 at the request of the Gangnam-gu Office.

"Many complaints were received," a Gangnam-gu official said, adding the office asked for the ad to be removed under the Act on Management of Outdoor Advertisements and Promotion of Outdoor Advertising Industry, which bans advertisements that “may harm public morals with obscene or decadent content.”

The ad has been replaced with something else promoting another product of the company.

The company expressed frustration.

“We spent a lot of money to get the licensing contract for (the app‘s) operation in the country, but it is like the project has gone belly-up,” the company’s CEO said. “We didn‘t think that businesses related to sexual minorities would be treated this badly in 2024.”

(Yonhap)