How ILLIT Turned a Rice Joke Into a Real Campaign

ILLIT’s playful “It’s Me” wordplay has turned into an official public campaign, giving the HYBE girl group a new role beyond the music charts. The five-member act has been appointed as the first ambassador for NongHyup’s rice consumption campaign, a move that grew out of a viral joke, a music promo, and an unusually warm exchange between a K-pop team and a national agricultural brand.

According to BELIFT LAB, ILLIT will work with NongHyup Economic Holdings on the campaign “Like me, like 米: It’s 米,” which uses the Chinese character for rice, pronounced “mi,” to connect the group’s recent title track with a broader message about everyday eating habits. The campaign is aimed especially at younger consumers, who are being encouraged to see Korean rice not only as a staple food but as something that can feel current, social, and personally expressive.

The appointment arrives at a useful moment for ILLIT. Their mini-album title track “It’s Me” has continued to perform steadily more than two months after release, remaining near the top of major domestic music platforms and spending eight consecutive weeks on Billboard’s Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts. For a group still building its long-term identity, the campaign gives one of the era’s most memorable visual jokes a real-world afterlife.

From a Pun to a Partnership

The collaboration began with ILLIT’s own campaign film for “It’s Me.” In the promotional content, the group leaned into a pun that Korean fans immediately understood: “me” could be heard like “米,” the character for rice. Members appeared as models for fictional “It’s 米” rice packaging, and the imagery of the group dancing in a rice-field setting quickly stood out among typical comeback promotions.

What might have remained a one-off joke instead drew attention from NongHyup. The agricultural cooperative’s official account reacted to ILLIT’s content, and the organization later supported the group by sending a meal truck to a music-show site. That back-and-forth turned a meme-like promotional moment into a formal partnership.

NongHyup’s statement framed the appointment as more than a celebrity endorsement. The organization said it was meaningful to promote a healthy rice-eating culture with ILLIT, describing the group as having positive energy, and expressed hope that future core consumers would voluntarily join a fresh breakfast and rice culture. In practical terms, that means using K-pop’s speed, humor, and social reach to make a traditional food conversation feel less like a public-service notice and more like a fan-participation moment.

For international readers, the charm of the campaign is in how local the idea is. Korean entertainment often turns small language details into shareable fan culture, and this one depends on a bilingual visual pun rather than a heavy message. “It’s Me” becomes “It’s 米,” the song title becomes a rice slogan, and a comeback image becomes a public-facing campaign with enough personality to travel on social platforms.

What ILLIT Will Do as Ambassadors

ILLIT’s activities will include both online content and in-person events. In mid-July, the members are scheduled to visit a farm in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, where they will take part in rice-planting for variety-style content. The footage will be released through ILLIT’s own YouTube channel and NongHyup’s YouTube channel, giving fans a direct continuation of the “It’s 米” storyline that first made the collaboration possible.

The campaign will also include a social media challenge encouraging people to eat breakfast. That detail matters because the project is not only about celebrity visibility; it is about turning a daily habit into something younger viewers might share. In K-pop terms, the breakfast challenge gives fans an easy entry point, while NongHyup gets a format that is more likely to spread than a conventional informational campaign.

Another planned element is the “Happy Rice Meal Truck,” with menus chosen by the ILLIT members. Meal trucks are already familiar in Korean entertainment culture, where fans, brands, or colleagues send food and coffee support to drama sets, music shows, and filming locations. By adapting that format for a rice campaign, NongHyup is borrowing a familiar piece of fan culture and using it to make the message feel closer to the public.

ILLIT’s members Yunah, Minju, Moka, Wonhee, and Iroha are the first figures to take on the rice consumption ambassador title in this campaign. The choice signals a clear target: fans and casual viewers who are young, digitally active, and more likely to encounter the campaign through short clips or social feeds than through traditional advertising.

Why the Timing Works

The campaign benefits from ILLIT’s chart momentum. “It’s Me” has not faded quickly after release, and its continued presence on Korean platforms and Billboard’s global charts gives the partnership a stronger hook than a standard ambassador announcement. The song is still part of the group’s current public image, so the rice campaign feels connected to an active era rather than attached after the fact.

That distinction is important in K-pop marketing. Brand deals often succeed when they extend a story fans already recognize. Here, the story is unusually clean: a title track created a joke, the joke became a visual concept, a major organization noticed it, and the organization now has ILLIT carrying the idea into a national campaign. It gives fans a sense that their online attention helped move something from fandom culture into the public sphere.

There is also a softer image benefit for the group. ILLIT debuted with a youthful and accessible identity, and a campaign about breakfast, rice, farming content, and member-picked meals fits that image without feeling forced. It lets the members appear playful and approachable while still attaching their name to a public message.

The visual side is likely to matter as much as the wording. The original campaign film already gave fans an unusual set of images, from rice packaging to rural references, and the upcoming Dangjin farm visit could supply another round of clips that differ from polished music-stage content. For a group competing in a crowded K-pop field, recognizable visual identity is a practical advantage.

What Comes Next for ILLIT

The ambassador role will sit alongside ILLIT’s broader summer schedule. The group is set to release the full digital version of its second Japanese single, “I Got Your Back,” on July 26, followed by the physical album on July 29. In August, ILLIT is also scheduled to appear at major Japanese festivals, including Mezamashi WANGAN Festival and LuckyFes 2026.

That means the rice campaign will unfold just as ILLIT moves into another phase of overseas activity. For global fans, the NongHyup partnership offers a distinct Korean cultural reference point before the group pivots further toward Japan. It also gives English-language audiences a glimpse of how domestic K-pop promotions can intersect with public campaigns in ways that are specific, humorous, and highly visual.

The larger takeaway is simple: ILLIT did not just land another endorsement. They turned a comeback pun into a campaign that now includes farm content, social challenges, meal events, and a message aimed at younger consumers. In an industry where viral moments often disappear within days, “It’s 米” has managed to become something more durable.

If the mid-July content catches on, the partnership could become a useful case study in how K-pop fandom language can carry a public-interest message without losing its personality. For now, ILLIT’s rice ambassador role stands as one of the more unusual extensions of a 2026 comeback, and it shows how far a smart joke can travel when the right audience runs with it.