Lee Sona to promote safety in her hometown, Gangwon, for two years

Singer Lee Sona, originally from Chuncheon, has become the face delivering traffic safety messages to her hometown, Gangwon. On the 18th, Lee Sona was appointed as the traffic safety ambassador for the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency, and she will participate in TV public service announcements and on-site campaigns for the next two years. This is more than just news of an honorary position; there is a clear rationale behind it. Lee Sona, who gained national recognition after winning TV Chosun's 'Miss Trot 4' this year, is an individual who possesses both regional identity and mass appeal.

A Regional Campaign Led by a Winner from Chuncheon

Lee Sona rose to the final position of 'Jin' in 'Miss Trot 4' this March. In the final, she secured 256,310 real-time text votes and confirmed her victory by combining master scores with online cheering votes. As her story of standing on stage after long years of obscurity and family struggles became known, local fans have continued to show interest in her activities following the competition.

The most notable aspect of this appointment is her "hometown." As a singer who grew up in Chuncheon, her name was already familiar to viewers in the Gangwon region even before the competition. She also has a background of studying traditional Korean music for over 20 years as a practitioner of Gyeonggi Minyo, National Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 57. With her recent recognition as a trot audition winner, her solid vocal foundation based on traditional music, and her connection to Gangwon, she possesses the friendliness required for public campaigns.

Why Trot Fanbases and Traffic Safety Messages Meet

The key to traffic safety promotion is the power to make people look one more time. In particular, regional campaigns find it difficult to change daily habits through numbers or slogans alone. Therefore, when a recognizable face speaks about safe driving and walking habits in simple terms, the message lasts longer. Lee Sona's role is aligned with this objective. Her future activities will include appearing in TV public service announcements, participating in traffic safety campaigns, and conducting promotional activities to prevent accidents.

Since 2020, the Gangwon region has been classified as a super-aged society, with the elderly population exceeding 20%. Previously, trot singer Shin Sung, who served as a traffic safety ambassador for the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency, was also an example of connecting the power of a genre familiar to the elderly to a campaign. Lee Sona's appointment follows this same trend. While the trot fanbase spans a wide range of ages, it has high accessibility particularly among middle-aged and elderly populations. The practical reason for this appointment is that the group that needs to hear traffic accident prevention messages most frequently overlaps with the singer's primary audience.

Expanding Her Name Through Activities Beyond the Stage

For Lee Sona, this activity is one of her first regional public engagements following her competition victory. Immediately after winning, attention tends to focus on stage performances and broadcast appearances, but public interest activities connected to her hometown serve as an opportunity to imprint her name on citizens outside her fandom. Furthermore, traffic safety is not a message directed only at specific fans. It is a daily agenda that must reach commuters, pedestrians going to markets, and families passing by schools.

The next points to watch are what sentences and scenes will be used to create the public service announcements, and which regions will host the on-site campaigns first. For Lee Sona's bright image to elicit actual traffic safety behaviors, the subsequent advertisements and campaign content will be more important than the news of her appointment. The weight of her two-year activity starting from her hometown will become more evident then.