Following her announcement to return to commercial advertising after an 11-year hiatus, singer Lee Hyori has already sparked a flurry of excitement within the advertising industry.

On July 13th, Lee Hyori posted a brief message on her social media, "I want to do advertisements again. Please direct all ad inquiries to Antenna Music," accompanied by a photo of one of her past advertisements. It's the first time she's expressed her intention to resume advertising work since 2012.

Having debuted in 1998 as a member of the girl group Fin.K.L., Lee Hyori rose to prominence as a veritable top star, dominating various industry advertisements, including telecommunications, liquor, cosmetics, cars, and sports apparel, thereby reigning as the 'CF Queen'. She was even awarded the best female model chosen by netizens at the 2007 'Korea Broadcasting Advertising Festival', beating out other top CF stars of the time.

However, in 2012, Lee Hyori declared she would no longer participate in commercial advertisements. The reasons were her values as an animal lover and vegetarian, along with her guilty conscience stemming from exaggerations in advertisements. She mentioned in the SBS program 'Thank You' in 2013, "One day, my friend's husband said, 'I invested half my salary to buy the medicine you endorse for my wife.' In reality, using it won't make them like me, and after that, I felt so guilty that I decided not to shoot ads."

Since Lee Hyori announced her return to advertising, there has been a flood of love calls from the advertising industry. Her social media accounts are now swamped with comments left by various companies, including automobiles, liquor, coffee, travel agencies, and finance, demonstrating the enduring status of the original 'CF Queen.'

"Hello? Where is Hyori unnie?", "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", "Should I wire the money now?" are among the savvy comments left by various companies through their official social media accounts, expressing interest in Lee Hyori. Notably, there are also love calls from OTT, SNS, and e-commerce companies, which were not prominent 11 years ago. The scramble for Lee Hyori has become a sort of 'comment play,' spreading like a trend. Local governments and professional football teams have also joined in on this trend.

It remains to be seen what impact Lee Hyori, who has expressed her intention to appear again 11 years after her declaration of commercial advertising cessation, will have on the advertising industry and whether she will reclaim her crown as the 'CF Queen.'

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