What Is a Slogan? The K-Pop Fan Banner: How to Hold, Make and Use It

At a K-pop concert, the whole audience raised long, narrow banners at the same moment. Here’s what a slogan is as fan goods, how it differs from an uchiwa fan, how to make one, and the rules for using it at a venue.

What a Slogan Means

A slogan (スローガン) is a wide fan banner printed with your oshi’s photo, name or message. It is used mainly at K-pop shows and fan events, held by the edges and spread open with both hands.

Materials divide broadly into paper and fabric. Paper ones are often the thick-card type handed out at slogan events, while fabric ones in light material such as satin or suede have the advantage of folding up for carrying. Double-sided designs, with a photo on the front and a message on the back, are common too.

These sizes are roughly consistent across the guides of production services (KPOP Magazine (archived), in Japanese). There is no unified standard, so in the end the test is whether you can spread it comfortably across your own arm span.

Close rangeLong distance

1. Around 40 cmFan signings, video call events
2. Around 60 cmThe most common; suits halls
3. 80 cm or moreDomes and stadiums

No unified standard exists, so let your own arm span decide.

Origin and Names

In Korean it is written 슬로건 (seullogeon), a loanword that simply reads the English “slogan.” The English word only means a motto. Using it for the cloth or paper you hold up became established in Korean fan culture, and fans in Japan have carried over the name.

Some slogans are sold or handed out officially, and others are unofficial ones made by fans. For the latter, a familiar pattern is that a coordinator places the order and distributes the slogans to other fans.

How It Differs From an Ouen Uchiwa

The ouen uchiwa (fan-shaped cheering sign) common in Japan and the slogan both get held up to convey a message, but they grew up in different soil. An uchiwa is a fan-shaped sign with a handle, and in Japan there is an established culture of officials laying out detailed rules on recommended sizes and decoration. A slogan is just the cloth or paper surface. Its rules are less settled, and in practice you mostly follow each venue’s notice.

The slogan’s role overlaps with that of linked uchiwa, where several people connect letters, and of cheering boards. People choose slogans because each is complete in a single piece and can be folded and taken home.

From K-pop culture

Slogan

• The cloth or paper surface itself
• Held open with both hands
• Rules mostly follow each venue's notice
• Folds up to take home

Common in Japan

Ouen uchiwa

• A fan-shaped sign with a handle
• Officials lay out size and decoration rules
• Detailed guidance is part of the culture

Both convey a message, but they grew up in different soil.

Examples

• “For this tour I went with the fabric version of the slogan”
• “My slogan arrived, so I’m keeping it safe until the day”
• “It says to keep it hidden until the signal”
• “It’s a strict venue, so maybe no slogan this time”
• “I made eye contact with someone holding the same slogan and we laughed”

How to Make One

1. Start from where you’ll use it — Venue scale decides the size. A single banner meant for both close and far range tends to suit neither
2. Choose the material — Paper if it’s one time only, fabric if you’ll reuse it. A fabric that doesn’t show fold creases is easier to carry
3. Make the design — Keep the letters bold and short. A name readable from far away gets across better than a bigger photo
4. Check the rights to your materials — Avoid using official photos or logos without permission; use images whose use is permitted, or materials you prepared yourself (Visipri, in Japanese)
5. Submit and wait — Delivery takes days. Work back from the show date and order with time to spare

What to Follow at the Venue

• Check first whether you can bring it — Some shows restrict displaying homemade goods. The ticket notice and official guidelines take priority
• Don’t spread it wider than your shoulders — It intrudes on your neighbor’s view. The bigger the banner, the more carefully you need to choose where to hold it
• Don’t raise it high overhead — From the back seats, a banner held up becomes a wall
• Always take it home after the show — Stories are told of handouts left on seats again and again, until distribution was called off at the next show

The Slogan Event

A production in which fans plan the event, slogans are handed out at entry, and everyone raises them at once on a cue in a video is called a slogan event. In some cases the organizer or agency approves the plan and takes applications or sign-ups.

Participants need to remember three things. Don’t talk about the content until the day (to keep it a surprise, posting on social media in advance is sometimes banned), check the handout location and time first, and don’t miss the cue to raise it. The planner is an individual, not the organizer, so that also means not making unreasonable demands or pressing them.

1. 01Fans planSometimes approved by the organizer
2. 02Slogans handed outAt entry, at a set place and time
3. 03Keep it secretNo posting before the day
4. 04Wait for the cueA signal in the video
5. 05Raise togetherThen take yours home

A surprise only works if everyone keeps quiet until the cue.

The Ticket Unauthorized Resale Prohibition Law (in Japanese) regulates high-priced resale of performance tickets and does not cover goods such as slogans. However, flea-market apps have tightened their terms, and buying or selling handouts may violate them.

Notes From The Oshi Lab: Fans Are “Delivering” the Production

Look closely at the structure of a slogan event and the organizer spends almost nothing. Design, printing, distribution and guidance on the day are all carried by fans, and only the finished production reaches the stage. You could say fans bear the production costs and the labor, and deliver the show’s staging. It still works because the person they want to reach is definitely there, and responds.

For companies, it’s a mechanism that creates a high point of unity at no extra cost, but it can’t be welcomed unconditionally. There are rights to materials, transparency in collecting money, confusion at distribution, and the sense of exclusion felt by those who couldn’t take part. The planner is an individual, and that individual stands in the line of fire when trouble arises. When organizers approve a plan and get involved, it is more natural to read it as a need to take on this burden than as a wish to control the staging.

The low barrier to entry on the production side helps too. Because a slogan can be made from just fabric and printing, small-lot printing services for individuals have taken hold, and an economy inside the fandom runs outside official merchandise. It doesn’t tie directly into the organizer’s revenue, yet the passion that arises there shapes the scene at the show. How to handle this asymmetry is a question that lies outside merchandise strategy.

Related Terms

Ouen uchiwa / Linked uchiwa / Cheering board / Penlight / Can badge