'Sold out': Ad guru stages surprise protest outside election watchdog over ballot shortage

Lee Je-seok, a public interest advertising expert widely known as a creative genius, staged a surprise satirical performance Thursday in front of the National Election Commission headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, mocking the agency over a recent ballot paper shortage.

Lee, who heads the Lee Je-seok Advertising Lab, hung a banner outside the NEC building that morning reading "Democracy's flower is sold out" — a parody of the commission's signature slogan, "Democracy's flower is the election."

He also held up a poster depicting a voter's empty hand reaching into a ballot box, accompanied by the phrase "Your precious zero votes." Each poster showed a voter's hand conspicuously empty where a ballot should have been.

An NEC official immediately moved to stop the performance and removed the banner.

Lee said he plans to distribute the posters online for free and mail printed copies directly to the NEC. He also announced a poster design competition open to young advertising professionals, inviting entries that satirize the ballot shortage, with the top submission to be sent to the commission as well.

"Voting is about trust in the very foundation of our national system, and then out of nowhere — like a bolt from the blue — there were no ballots," Lee told Yonhap News Agency. "I kept thinking about how to express this absurdity, and I ended up making the posters as a way of donating my skills."

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