@pogo
They don’t need to take any cue because they’re seasoned professionals that know exactly what they’re doing and I think your confusion about her casting (and many others) would stop the moment you (me, all of us) took your drama fan glasses and stop completely disregarding the whole purpose of the industry: MAKE MONEY. Some projects wouldn’t even take off without some big star attached to it and UF was an example of that, without Suzy there would be no UF because investors/sponsors/producers/people in general in the industry would simply not be interested in investing their money (and before anyone starts, without KWB there would not even be a project to discuss in the first place so his star power was fundamental), and everything about that drama screamed “Catering to Chinnese $$$” so even if it super flopped domestically they achieved their ultimate purpose: MAKE TONS OF MONEY. I say all this also in regards to your last comment about the industry “rewarding” her, they´re not, they’re simply using her. A good drama (with a talented team) is not at odds with a profitable drama, but as we’ve come to observe the first can be affected if it IS at odds with the second. I think that there are projects that are very honest about what they want from the start, and not only was UF one of them but so is this one, they want them Yuan and they want Suzy’s (and LJS’s) many sponsorship partners’ money, you can say they (the PD, writter, cast, etc.) are “selling out” for some quick buck but I wouldn’t, who wouldn’t be tempted?! I would also like to point out that if the purpose of a project is to be serious and they’re aiming for credibility/recognition/award baiting, Suzy’s name would not even be suggested, even if she herself went to the audition because they wouldn’t be taken seriously and AGAIN investors/sponsors/producers/people in general in the industry would not invest their money. It’s clear what type of scripts are offered to her, the industry is definitely not rewarding her, but using her, just as much she’s using them. Nobody needs to take any cue here.

Because having one big star in your drama may pique the interest of some investors, having TWO big stars creates a sense of stability (because there's nothing investors hate more than uncertainty), unlike you I think both KWB and Suzy did a good job in attracting the public at first, (to me) both have some draw domestically AND oversees. And I think you're underestimating the relevance of "product placement" as you call it, some dramas, like I said, are made solely for the purpose of catering to these companies. And having Suzy hold your BB cushion, sunglasses, earrings, face mask, conditioner, rice cooker, dildo or whatever the f she's selling is worth 28447284384346653+ more than if it was "virtually anyone" else holding them. Imagine this, literally MILLIONS of people saw super duper popular pretty Suzy wear, hold, be close to an object you sell therefore creating (at the very least) some interest in your product, that's right, UF was nothing more than a long ass CF that people actually want to watch! of course, all this didn't come free because associating anything to her now has a premium cost so you had to shell out some big bucks (that the producing company was more than happy to take) and judging by the fact that another producing house and team are reaching out to her again, I'd say most investors walked away quite happily from UF. That's what I meant when I said some projects are very honest from the start about what they want. Who knows if the formula will work again, like you said there's the big ban-but not really-but we're still not gonna let you use Korean stars anyway- going on in China, but people in the industry are more than willing to risk it apparently. And as to her motives, well to her a drama may as well be all about endorsing products so she's probably thinking "why not", but it's not like a shit ton of people aren't making a shit ton of money off of her, so really no one is rewarding anyone, they're just using each other. You are free to judge her (and the industry's) morals any way you want though.