Cultural icon

A cultural icon is an artifact that is recognised by members of a culture or sub-culture as representing some aspect of cultural identity. Cultural icons vary widely, and may be visual, audio, an object, a person or group of people, etc.

In the media, many items of popular culture have been called "iconic" despite their lack of durability. Some commentators believe that the word is overused or misused.

Types

A web-based survey was set up in 2006 allowing the public to nominate their ideas for national icons of England and the results reflect the range of different types of icon associated with an English view of English culture.

Some examples are:

Matryoshka dolls are seen internationally as cultural icons of Russia.

GI (band)

Global Icon (Hangul: 지아이; acronym: GI) is a South Korean girl group formed by Simtong Entertainment in 2013. The current line-up consists of Eunji, Nayeon, Jinsil, Bomin, and Dokyung. They released their debut single "Beatles" on April 3, 2013. The group originally debuted with a "boyish" concept, referring to the fact that the majority of the members had short hair and a more masculine attitude and style, opposed to the feminine concepts many Korean pop girl groups have, but after their line-up changes, the group returned in 2015 with a feminine and sexy concept.

History

Debut

The group was announced on March 20, 2013, and image teasers were released revealing the members of the group. It was revealed that they would take on a fresh concept from that of the usual girl group:

Following this, a music video teaser revealed the rappers, OneKet and AI, followed by a video for singers Eunji, Hayun and Aram, and a full group music video teaser. The group released their debut single "Beatles" on April 3, 2013 along with its music video. They made their debut on Show Champion the same day.