( Source )

Introduction: A Return to Korean Advertising

Recently it seems that I'm becoming known in the blogosphere as "the man to turn to for Korean sexism"  (see here, here and here for instance), ironic considering how I could be relied upon to provide precisely that just a few short months ago; I guess I've redeemed myself. Alas, not before corrupting Brian in Jeollanam-do though.

But seriously, thanks for the links. Inspired by those and things like this book I've just read, and further encouraged by this recent post by Matt at Gusts of Popular Feeling too, I've decided that I'm going to return to writing about the Korean advertising industry. There's quite a lot to cover (no pun intended), and so that and my series on the military and gender will probably take up the bulk of my posts for the next two months or so.

As for the former, I'm hopefully going to begin writing much more thoroughly researched, academically rigorous, and above all coherent posts than the previous (image-heavy) ones I did for, say, the increasing sexualization of alcohol advertising in Korea. Not that there's much in them that I wouldn't still say today, but I'll be the first to admit that some of them could do with major rewrites. Rather than going back and doing that though, I'll wisely focus on writing posts on the subject that will hopefully become much more widely read (as opposed to looked at) instead.

Another thing that inspired me was the following flash video presentation by the US National Organization for Women (NOW), which has hopefully made some progress towards loading as you've been reading this:

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.623639&w=425&h=350&fv=]

( Found via MsParkerinKorea )

Assuming you've watched that, I'd like to draw your attention to these and these Korean advertisements for the Cyon "Bikini Phone" in the opening image to this post that the presentation instantly reminded me of (warning: some are not really safe for work, which is telling in itself). You may also find these Western advertisements that NOW considers offensive to women interesting too. For now, please make your own conclusions about them, and I'd be interested in hearing your opinions and will try to incorporate them into my first "proper" post on the subject sometime towards the end of the week.

But please don't get the wrong impression. While I agree with and/or sympathize with many of those points raised by NOW, I am a guy and I'm not hypocritical, and so for the life of me I just can't bring myself to be offended by the Bikini Phone advertisements. I'm more interested in how similar they and others like them are to Western ones these days, and the differing ways in which changes in the Korean advertising industry are driven by international and domestic imperatives. Again, I recommend this post by Matt to see where I'll be going on the latter. 

Korean Translations

( Image Credit: Cuzcco )

Meanwhile, the next TOPIK Korean test is in 74 days. I won't bore you with all the trials and tribulations of my Korean study these days; suffice to say that as my second daughter is due a few weeks after the test, and so it will probably be my last chance to pass an advanced level for quite a while. With that in mind, I'm restarting my old study habit of translating Korean articles every day and posting them on the blog, but with some important differences to the last time(s):

• Posts with translations will not be about learning Korean or translations per se; rather they will be on and add to subjects that I already blog about. For that reason, while I will provide the original Korean because it helps my "Korea Guru" image so that my translations can easily be checked, my translations will no longer be literal (best for fellow students of Korean), but instead will be completely rewritten afterwards, only with English speakers interested in the subject (and not in learning Korean) in mind. Probably a good habit for employment in the future.
• I'll post translations randomly, in addition to normal posts, sometimes with commentary and sometimes not. That doesn't mean I'm going to post up things which merely helped me practice Korean but which nobody will want to read; they'll all be relevant like I said, and my larger aim is to provide resources for people, much like I have dozens of KoreaBeat's translations favorited on my desktop and ready to read and link to when I write posts on related subjects.
• The emphasis will be on Korean opinions rather than news articles. I can usually find plenty of stuff in English on the subjects I blog about about, but still largely absent from my posts on Korea are any thoughts and opinions from actual Koreans themselves. And as I learnt from Robert Koehler and Michael Hurt in a podcast years ago, things Korean that non-Koreans discuss and criticize Koreans invariably do too, and it's largely only a language gap that makes them appear as monolithic and unthinking as they sometimes do...really, sometimes I can be just as guilty as any Itaewon-dwelling expat of making generalizations about them.

Those, my series on gender and the military, and my new series on Korean advertising will take up the bulk of the summer then.

And here is my first translation. I was looking for things about sexist Korean advertisements (and have quite a backlog to translate already), but found myself at work yesterday with only this quick blog entry from 2005 about the prostitution of Korean female entertainers in 1995 printed out instead. Not really what I wanted, and I'm already partially breaking my rule about relevance by posting it sorry, but it's not uninteresting in itself:

해외동포 연예인 붐을 일으킨 재키림의 10년 전 사진

Jackie Lim, The Creator of an Overseas Korean Entertainer Boom

( Source )

삼성은 하이버네이션 기능 때문에 안정성에 문제가 많은 그린컴퓨터를 얼른 단종시키고 매직스테이션이라는 새로운 브랜드를 선보였는데, 매직스테이션은 꽤 오래 출시되면서 장수 브랜드로 자리 잡았다.

Because the "hibernation" function was causing many problems with stability, Samsung quickly stopped producing "Green computers" in 1995 and launched a new brand called "Magic Station" instead, which became a very successful brand over the next ten years.

매직스테이션III의 광고모델은 당시 새롭게 떠오르던 해외동포 연예인인 재키림이다. 몇 개 국어를 자유자재로 구사할 수 있었던 재키림은 재원이라고 칭찬받으며 화려하게 연예계에 데뷔했다. 재키림은 SBS '생방송 TV 가요 20', KMTV '동방특급 비디오자키' 등을 뛰면서 가수와 비디오자키로 활동했다. 재키림은 비디오자키의 열풍을 일으켰을 뿐만 아니라 오늘날의 해외동포 연예인 붐을 일으킨 불씨가 되었지만, 정작 본인은 한국 연예계에 적응하지 못하고 방황으로 얼룩진 비운의 운명을 걷게 된다.

Jackie Lim was a new and upcoming star when she appeared in the "Magic Station 3" advertisement in 1995. As she was fluent in many languages she received a lot of attention and praise when she made her original debut, both starring as a singer and working as "video jockey" on the SBS program "20 Songs On Air" and KMTV's "High-Class Eastern Video Jockey". Ultimately she proved so popular she provided the spark for a boom in interest in overseas Korean entertainers. But she soon found it difficult to adapt to the Korean entertainment industry, and became a bit lost for which direction to take herself and her career.

재키림은 마약을 비롯한 좋지 않은 사건에 휘말리는데, 그녀가 이런 사건에 빠진 이유는 '한국에서 실력으로 활동하려 했지만 자신을 성적대상으로만 보면서 높은 사람 자리에 불려나가야 하고, 동료연예인들로부터 왕따당하면서 외로워서 약을 하게 되었다.'고 밝혔다. 재원이라고 떠들었던 뒷편에는 여성 연예인에 대한 여전한 성차별과 고위권의 압력, 동료 연예인의 텃세가 있었던 것이다.

Later, she became disgusted and further disheartened by trying to succeed as a singer in Korea through her own abilities but while facing the virtual prostitution of female entertainers that goes on behind the scenes. Not only was she regularly pressured to entertain and provide sexual services for politicians and business leaders, who saw her merely as yet another trophy girlfriend to be used, but on top of that she was also ostracized by other entertainers too, angered by whom they saw as an uppity overseas Korean whom they intended to put in her place. In the end she became very lonely and depressed and got involved with drugs.

이미지: 1995년 삼성 매직스테이션3 광고에서 밝게 웃는 재키림. 하지만 이 웃음 뒤에는 잘못된 연예게 관행으로 인한 외로움과 고통이 숨어있다.

Photo caption: Jackie Lim smiling brightly in Samsung's advertisement for the Magic Station 3. But hidden behind the smile there was a great deal of loneliness and pain caused by the Korean entertainment industry's bad practices.

If anybody wants to know more about Jackie Lim and what happened to her, let me know and I'll translate what else I can find. Meanwhile, I wonder how different the Korean entertainment industry really is a decade later?

P.S. Sorry for the delay, and other than translations like this my next post in my series on gender and the military will be going up next!

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Or so says the Chosun Ilbo, in the third most widely read "news" story in the digital version of the paper today:  

Actress Kim Tae-hee has become the talk of the town with a commercial in which she appears with no make-up. The commercial for Olympus Korea emphasizes Kim's natural side. Sporting a mane of untidy hair as if she just woke up, she curls her lips, plays with a teddy bear, frowns, and sucks a lollipop.

It reads like Playboy magazine (or so my friend tells me). A few weeks ago, I wouldn't have given a second thought to this mindless trash weekend space-filler, but actually I found it indirectly via checking out the most read story "Oprah Winfrey's Negative Remarks about Korean Women Spark Storm." Naturally, after writing about 7500 words worth of posts recently on Korean women and the Korean plastic surgery industry, I was in like Flynn, but then I realised that the article was actually from 2004.

That date got me thinking: maybe, just maybe, that four-year old story is indeed the most widely read story at the Chosun Ilbo (Why?). But the other four out of the five are all recent, so is it too much to think that the rankings may be manipulated? Sure, it probably is too much. But then consider the rest of number three:

The commercial has received a strong response because it shows another side of the actress, who has used the fact that she is intelligent and refined as a graduate of the prestigious Seoul National University to appeal to the public.

...

Internet users responded favorably, saying it's good to see the "ordinary side" of the normally more polished actress. "The commercial makes Kim look like one of the people around us. I suddenly came to like her," a user wrote.

(Photo by...er... Amber Dorko Stopper)

At first, I was happy to find an article about an ad that seemed to challenge the prevailing Korean opinion that women must put heavy make-up on and be immacuately dressed before leaving the house, even if it's just across the road for some milk. But then I realised that the newspaper regards netizens as a reliable news source - never a good sign - and that in every single "news article" I've read about Korean advertisements, the reporters have always claimed that Koreans are responding to the ads, well, pretty much exactly as the advertisers intended. And this isn't just a feature of the abysmal English-language media in Korea either, which seems to operate under the assumption that Korea must always be presented as a veritable Shangra-la to all non-Koreans; the same was said of many advertisements in this piece I translated last week for instance, and many before that too. Not once have I read that, say, "Koreans think ad sucks," or "Women react angrily to patronising ad." At least, not a Korean ad that is.

Yep, the obvious conclusion is that companies probably pay Korean newspapers to write such reports. It's just common-sense...sorry if you were expecting something more profound. But what is my common-sense isn't always yours, and sure as hell isn't many Koreans' either. I'm going to try and ask some Korean aquaintances (not friends, they'd agree with me) and see if they think the same.

In the meantime, I think it's debatable whether the ad indeed shows off Kim Tae-Hee's "more natural side"? And even if I did, I'm not sure I'd feel compelled to wax lyrical about it on internet message boards.

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1067172&w=425&h=350&fv=]

Update: Brian in Jeollanam-do has quite a convincing reason for why that old article about Oprah Winfrey was suddenly so popular.

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Introduction/Recap 

If you've lived in Korea for more than a couple of years, then you'll probably have noticed that many Korean alcohol companies - and those that sell soju in particular - have recently gone from presenting innocent and virginal women in their ads to in-your-face sexual images instead. Hell it's hard not to notice, and you certainly didn't see ads like the above even in 2005, let alone when I first came in 2000. And I wrote that before I realised how see-through Lee Hyori's clothes were.

I already have strong academic interests in Korean consumerism and feminism (see here and here for my most recent work on both), and I also happen to be a normal, albeit extremely virile, heterosexual male too, and the combination has meant I've already written a lot on the changes, most recently here and here. In those posts, I mentioned that I was puzzled by a recent ad (below) of Jeong Ryeo-won's for the medicinal wine sansachun/산사춘, as the ads for that drink hadn't explicitly been "sexualized" yet, and so my plan for my next posts on the subject was to find and translate articles about the Baesangmyun Brewery Company's decision to hire her. Was the the ad still the exception, or was it part of the new rule?

I did quickly find some on that here and here, and most importantly found a series of four on alcohol advertisements as whole here, but most were either devoid of any real information and/or repeated similar articles that I've already translated. I was placed in a bit of an impasse, and realised that what I'd really like to do is look at more academic analyses of the recent changes, rather than repeated announcements of which companies have hired which stars for their new advertising campaigns. But unfortunately there'd be very little in Korean on those yet, let alone in English, and my Korean isn't quite at that level yet anyway.

A New, More Sophisticated Narrative

But the impasse made me realise that there's actually little more to say on the subject, other than:

• Yes, of course alcohol advertisements are becoming more sexual, starting with those for soju.
• You like them? Yes, me too. We should totally hang out sometime.
• Yes, they may signal and/or prompt a new social acceptance of sexual assertiveness by Korean women, but it's too early to tell.

Did I miss anything out? I doubt it. So, I apologise, but I don't think there's really anything more to add. Sure, I won't pretend that I wouldn't like the hits that putting more posters of girls would bring, but would they bring actual readers?

The impasse was fortuitous really, as not putting posters up for the sake of mere popularity is in line with a direction I'd already been taking the blog in anyway. In a nutshell, I've written some damn good things on the blog recently, some of which I've spent weeks on and is at least at postgrad level, and I want them to be taken seriously. Hence it's already been a good month since the last ever bikini graced my blog.

I was partially propelled in this direction because a female blogger recently singled me out and objected to some (unspecified) pictures of mine too. Seeing as she not only links to a blog with regular links to porn, but links to and recently met the owner of one that has porn (nothing against either blog though!), then I won't lose any sleep over her hypocritcal comment (although I wish I hadn't replied to it so politely). But I'll admit that still she touched a nerve.

But having said that, this post, for instance, is about way women are presented in Korean advertisements, and that they're not wearing much in them these days is the whole point, so I'm not going to, say, link to the ads instead of posting them to somehow pretend otherwise. True, the same can't be said of some slightly risque pictures accompanying my last (academic) post on consumerism, but it's a blog, dammit, not a textbook. What am I supposed to break the otherwise monotonous-looking text with? Puppies?

With that outline of my new blogging ethos out of the way then, onto the main subject of today's post. 

Translation

While I have already covered most of the contents of the above articles like I said, the fourth one of that series of four is a actually quite a good summation of things, and so I've decided that I will translate it.

Because the article is longer than normal, I've changed the format of how I usually put translations up to make it easier to read, and because it mentions so many Korean actors that I've never mentioned before, I've provided links to their biographies when their names first appear too. But because I've written so about the subject already, I won't be linking to earlier posts of mine as I go along; instead, if you're a new reader and are interested, visit this category to find those.

[미녀스타와 술(酒)④]/Star Beauties with Alcohol ④

22 January 2008 

[이데일리 SPN 박미애기자] 주류 광고로 뜬 스타를 찾기란 쉽지 않다. 당대 톱스타들이 주류CF의 히어로 또는 히로인 자리를 차지하는 경우가 대부분이기 때문이다.

[E-Daily SPN, Park Mi-ae Reporting] These days, it is difficult to find a new star becoming famous through first appearing in advertisements for alcoholic drinks. This is because so many already famous stars appear in them now.

그런 점에서 주류 광고 메인 모델로 발탁된 연예인은 당대 톱스타 또는 유망 신예로 가능성을 인정받은 차세대 스타로 볼 수 있다.

This has a snowball effect, as alcohol companies react to each other's star-based advertising campaigns by using already established stars and/or those that are most likely to become even more famous in the future in turn.

그러나 광고는 트렌드에 민감한 까닭에 모델 역시 그때그때 다르지만 주종에 따라서 선호하는 스타일에는 다소 차이가 있다.

Advertisements are still sensitive to trends however, and while alcohol advertisements may all look the same today there are slight differences between those for different kinds of alcohol.

일반적으로 소주는 맑고 깨끗한 이미지의 여성 스타를, 맥주는 젊은이들이 즐겨 마시는 술인 만큼 성별에 관계없이 트렌디한 스타를, 전통주는 제품의 특성을 효과적으로 나타내는데 적합한 스타를 선호해왔다.

In general, soju advertisements want to give off a clear, clean and bright image using female stars, beer advertisements use trendy stars of both sexes, and advertisements for traditional alcohols like to present their alcohol's unique effects, and prefer stars appropriate for the individual drink.

◇  이영애에서 이효리로...소주에 부는 새로운 바람 / From Lee Young-ae to Lee Hyori...A Fresh Breeze in Soju Advertisements

▲ (L-R) Lee Young-ae, Kim Tae-Hee, Kim Ah-jung

대표적인 주류인 소주의 경우 참이슬 후레쉬는 이영애 박주미 김태희 성유리 남상미 등이 모델로 발탁됐으며 처음처럼은 이영아 구혜선 등이 모델 계보를 이었다. 소주의 깨끗하고 투명한 이미지와 어울리는 모델들을 기용해온 셈이다.

In the case of soju, Jinro has previously has previously hired stars such as Lee Young-ae, Park Joo-mee, Kim Tae-hee, Nam Sang-mi and so forth to advertise its well known brand "Chamisul Fresh", while Doosan has hired stars such as Lee Young-a and Ku Hye-Sun to advertise its brand "Like the First Time". Stars that go well with soju's clean and transparent or clear image have tended to be hired. 

그러다가 참이슬 후레쉬는 영화 '미녀는 괴로워'로 스크린 스타 반열에 올라선 김아중을, 처음처럼은 트렌드 아이콘 이효리를 모델로 발탁해 주류광고에 새 기운을 불어넣었다. 단아하고 정적인 이미지에서 벗어나 밝고 동적인 이미지로 변화를 준 것이다. 이러한 이미지 변신이 젊은 소비자들의 눈길을 끌며 제품에 긍정적인 반응을 불러일으키고 있다.

However, Jinro has recently hired rapidly rising "200 Pounds Beauty" star Kim Ah-jung to represent Chamisul Fresh and inspire a fresh, new image for it, and Doosan has hired has hired trend icon Lee Hyori to do for same for Like The First Time. In the past, these brands presented an elegant, warm image, but this has been changed in favor of a bright and active one. Young consumers have reacted positively to the new ads and confirm that they draw their attention to the products. 

◇  박지성 보아...성별 관계없이 당대 톱스타 / Park Ji-sung, Boa...The Present Generation of Male and Female Stars for Beer

맥주는 소비층이 비교적 젊은 편이다. 그래서 광고 또한 타깃 소비층이 선호하는 스타나 트렌디한 스타를 모델로 두는 경우가 많다. 맥스 모델은 장동건이며 하이트 맥주 역대 모델들은 원빈 전도연 이병헌 고소영 박지성까지 성별에 관계없이 당대 톱스타들이 활동해왔다. 특히 박지성은 2002년 월드컵 4강 신화로 축구 열풍이 불면서 이러한 분위기를 광고에도 반영, 모델로 기용하게 된 경우다.

Compared to those that drink soju, beer consumers tend to be young, and so there are many cases of beer ads using trendy stars to target these consumers. In addition to the current model for Max Beer Jang Dong-gun, Hite has also used male and female stars such as Won-bin, Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Byung-hyun, Go-so Young, and Park Ji-sung. For instance, when Korea reached the semi-finals of the Football World Cup in 2002, Korean National Team player Park ji-sung was hired to reflect Korea's new football craze.

이후 톱스타 기용에서 소극적이었던 하이트 맥주는 최근 '아시아의 별' 보아를 모델로 발탁함으로써 다시 톱스타에게 눈길을 돌렸다. 이번 하이트 맥주 광고는 솔직하고 시원한 맥주라는 컨셉 아래 보아의 취중진담 형식으로 풀어나가고 있다. 맥주를 마시면서 속내를 털어놓는 톱스타의 솔직담백한 모습이 친근함을 불러일으키며 눈길을 끌고 있다.

From that point on, Hite Beer, which used to be so passive in its hiring of stars for its marketing campaigns, now actively seeks "Asia's Stars," recently hiring the singer Boa to turn people's heads. Her ads are the start of a new concept for Hite whereby the stars appear slightly tipsy and present a fresh, honest image of themselves while drinking the beer, and Hite hopes to draw consumers with this friendly, more human side of the stars.

◇  이미연 송강호...신뢰할 수 있는 스타 통해 제품 부각 / Lee Mi-yeon, Song Kang-ho...Boosting Advertisements' Effectiveness by Using Trustworthy, Friendly Stars

▲ (L-R) Lee Mi-yeon, Kim Jung-eun, Jeong Ryeo-won

대표적인 전통주 브랜드 '산사춘'과 '백세주'는 제품의 특성 및 신뢰를 높이는데 적합한 모델들을 기용해왔다. 산사춘이 1대 모델로 이미연을 쓴 것도 그러한 이유에서다. 이전까지 주류 광고의 대부분은 남성 위주로 만들어져온 것이 사실이다. 산사춘은 당당한 이미지의 이미연을 모델로 발탁한 덕분에, 여성들의 술이라는 컨셉을 부각시킬 수 있었다. 이후 신은경 이효리 김정은 한가인 등이 산사춘 모델로 활약했으며 현재 20, 30대 여성들이 가장 닮고 싶어 하는 여성 스타 정려원을 9대 모델로 발탁해 좋은 반응을 얻고 있다.

Meanwhile, in recent years representative traditional Korean alcohol brands Sansachun and Baekseju have emphasized using stars that consumers consider particularly trustworthy, warm and friendly, starting with Lee Mee-yeon. Until then they had actually mostly used male stars, but after using such an elegant and commanding model, women started drinking Sansachun in much greater numbers. After Lee Mi-yeon, other stars and models hired have included Shin Eun-kyung, Lee Hyori, Kim Jung-eun, Han Ga-in, and the latest, Jeong Ryeo-won, is the ninth. Ryeo-won has in particular received a favourable response, and many women in their 20s and 30s report that they want to be like her.

(I realise that it may be difficult to believe that Lee Hyori was ever considered a trustworthy, homely, warm and friendly girl, but actually she only started her hypersexual image in the last few years or so. For more on that old, not unattractive image of hers, see here)

또 하나의 전통주 브랜드 백세주는 송강호 김상경 지진희 송일국 조승우 등이 모델로 활약했다. 백세주가 기용해온 모델들의 면면을 살펴보면 트렌디한 스타보다는 안정감 있는 연기로 신뢰를 쌓은 배우들이 주로 활동해온 것을 알 수 있다.

However, the Baekseju brand has continued to use only men, including Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung, Song Il-gook, and Cho Seung-woo. Rather than using trendy stars, through them Baekseju wants to give off a strong, stable, and reliable image. 

(Which I'm not entirely sure the company managed to do with that ad!)

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("Lick Me Baby" by Renato Piereck)

Back on Wednesday I briefly discussed an advertisement for the Korean drink sansachul that confused me, for the drink had always been marketed towards women, but that particular ad was clearly aimed more at men. I wondered if it was just me that saw the ad that way, or if it was part of a new marketing strategy by the Baesangmyeon Brewery Company that made it, and promised to find press releases and translate them next week to find out. I've decided to begin now instead though, partially to practice Korean, and partially to displace the previous post about problems with a troll (still important, but it's not good for first impressions to have it at the head of the blog).

I've also found much much more than I thought, and I've realised that the subject combines well with many books and journal articles on consumerism and women's issues in Korea that I've read and had sitting around in my apartment for years, but never really had a chance to blog about. So then, practicing Korean vocab, a combination of light translations and serious academic posts (but easily less than 1500 2000 3000 words), the word "sex" easily insertible into most post titles...what more could a geekish, hit-seeking blogger want? Hence I've decided to run with the topic for a while, probably at least until my Korean test in 5 weeks. I'm looking forward to writing about it, but in passing I must apologise, for doing so marks the end to any pretence that I will eventually cover the subjects promised earlier in the year. Apologies to those readers interested in them, but in hindsight some subjects are simply not bloggable, either because of the dry subject matter or the length of the posts required.

Having said all that, tonight's translation is rather short and easy, primarily to get the ball rolling. Apologies if some readers don't like the format, but I've returned to including translations directly under each line or paragraph again. There will be the odd mistake, and I think that presenting them this way makes it much easier for myself and others to spot them and correct them. And please do let me know if you find anything or have any questions about the translations; even in the rare case that I've made a perfect translation in a technical sense, choices of the equivalent English words can still be very subjective.

정려원, 이효리 김아중과 ‘전쟁'...‘산사춘' 9대 모델

War with Jeong Ryeo-won, Lee Hyori and Kim Ah-jung...Sansachun Announces it's Ninth Model

(12th December 2007)

배우 정려원이 (주)배상면주가의 대표 브랜드 ‘산사춘'의 9대 모델로 발탁되었다.

A Baesangmyeon Brewery Company spokesperson has announced that the company has selected actor Jeong Ryeo-won to be the ninth model to lead an advertising campaign for its drink sansachul. 

배상면주가 측은 "정려원이 이미연, 신은경, 이효리, 김정은, 한고은, 한가인, 황보라, 윤진서 등에 이어 산사춘 광고 모델로 뽑혔다"고 밝혔다.

According to the spokesperson, previous models used in advertising campaigns have included, amongst others, Lee Me-yeon, Shin Un-gyeong, Lee Hyori, Han Go-un, Hwang Bo-ra and Yun Jin-seo. (James: you can see all of them here).

배상면주가 브랜드를 거친 모델 중에 이효리와 김아중(자청비)이 현재 소주 시장을 양분하는 ‘처음처럼'과 ‘참이슬'의 모델로 활동하고 있어 연말 미녀들의 주류 전쟁이 이어질 것으로 보인다.

Lee Hyori and Kim Ah-jung, previous models that have represented the Baesangmyeon brand (Kim Ah-jung was in ads for the drink jachungbi- see below), currently represent rival soju drinks 'Like the first time' and 'Chamisul' respectively, and have split the soju market (James: read more about that here)

정려원은 지난달 26일 포스터 촬영을 했고 12월 7일 TV 광고 촬영을 마쳤다.

New posters of advertisments featuring Jeong Ryeo-won started apprearing on the 26th of November, and the shooting of TV commericals finished on the 7th of December (James: here's one of the commercials below).

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이번 포스터 및 TV 광고 촬영에서 자연스러운 표정 연기와 부드러운 몸짓을 통해 밝고 명랑하고 스타일리쉬한 매력을 발산하며 주체적 여성의 모습인 산사춘의 캐릭터를 잘 표현해냈다는 평가를 받았다.

In the shooting of these posters and TV commercials, the company wants Jeong Ryeo-won to present a bright, cheerful and stylish image through natural expressions, soft gestures, and especially to express sansachun's basic feminine character and appeal.

And so there you have it, straight from the horse's mouth. But if you think I was over-analysing Jeong Ryeo-won's advertisement I include in that earlier post, then let me present you with this one of Kim Ah-jung's for jachungbi below, also supposedly marketed towards women:

You don't need to have bought a body language book by Allan Pease (although it'll easily be the best use of $15 you'll ever make) to know that she's standing in the female equivalent of the sexually-aggressive "Cowboy Stance." The question is why? Is the drink, in fact, aimed more at men? Or is the idea that women would want to emulate the attractive, sexually-aggressive woman in the ad? I suspect (and wholeheartedly applaud) the latter, but my point made in earlier posts is that the latter is relatively new in alcohol advertisements here, although it has been around for many different products on TV for years, most notably in ads featuring Jeon Ji-hyun/전지현 (see here for examples). Does that trend now being replicated in print media mean that it's becoming (relatively) socially acceptable for women to publicly (very many always did privately) assert themselves romantically and/or sexually in Korea? Or is it all just "porn-chic" transplanted from the West, where skin, simulated sex in music videos, and just general sluttiness is almost de rigeur for female celebrities now? If so, not even I would argue that it's "empowering" somehow.

(Update: If anyone's interested in the beginnings of the porn-chic phenomenon, the 1999 New York Times article "The Mainstream Flirts With Pornography Chic" is a good place to start)

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(Bigger version available here) 

On the way home from my local university district last week, I noticed this Chamisul/참이슬 soju advertisement of Kim Ah-jung/김아중's being put up outside all the bars and restaurants:

(Better versions of this and similar posters available here)

For those that don't know, Kim Ah-jung is a front-line soldier in Korea's 'Soju Wars,' and a few months ago I wrote a post about what soju advertisements largely featuring innocent, virginal looking women and those for beer featuring "manly" men say about drinking culture here, and especially societal notions of "appropriate" expressions of sexuality. Those earlier posts cover those issues in a lot of detail; today's post is mainly just about some things I've noticed since.

First up, I agree, "innocent and virginal" wasn't the first thing that came to mind when I saw that poster either. But that is precisely what makes this ad so interesting, as all of her previous ads in the series had been up until now - in a way, hers had been the last bastion of male-targeted ads that had presented women like that. New readers might justifiably argue that I'm reading too much into that one ad, but then compare these (mostly) older, more traditional ones still hanging up inside those bars as it was going up: 

True, not all of those are for beer or soju, and given that the decidedly non-virginal Lee Hyori/이효리 was in the third picture, working for a rival company, then the new emphasis on Kim Ah-jung's "S-line" and the placement of her hand in response was pretty predictable.

In the meantime, the third picture from the bottom is for the medicinal wine Sansachun/산사춘, something also very much on my mind recently. Judging by past commercials, it appears to be primarily marketed towards women, but then I only started thinking about it in the first place because of this now ubiquitous poster with Jeong Ryeo-won/정려원 in it:  

The TV commercials are still definitely aimed towards women, but surely it's not just me thinking that something's amiss in that ad? A female friend thought nothing of it, but I still can't help but think that that particular one would appeal more to men...it certainly works on me. Is the idea that men would like women who drink it? What do readers think?

I'm also tempted to talk about Bronwyn Mullen appearing in so many idiotic beer commercials recently too (example below), but I've only just started watching Global Talk Show/미녀들의 수다 to study Korean with, and besides which, Matt at Gusts of Popular Feeling is better qualified then I to write about the subject of non-Koreans on television (see here and here for why). I'll concentrate on Jeong Ryeo-won instead then, and will find and translate some "news" articles about the new Sansachul ad campaign next week.

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Finally, I'd like to refocus on Kim Ah-jung, because less than half an hour after I saw those soju posters of hers, I saw these pictures of her from her school days on the internet:

No, I'm not going to laugh at her for her decidedly unglamorous high-school looks (I can hardly talk), nor lambaste her for (clearly) having had a lot of plastic surgery, which is pretty routine for average Koreans, let alone celebrities. But having watched 200 Pounds Beauty/미녀는 괴로워, like most people enjoying it despite myself, "art imitating life" can't help but spring to mind after seeing the pictures?

By coincidence, I recently read over at Dramabeans that she's considering starring in a sequel, which revolves about her regaining the weight. But although the soju ads may arguably have been her most successful "project" since the original movie, I personally predict that a sequel would be a disaster. After all, fat jokes weren't the reason why so many people liked the first one...but a sequel that probably concentrates on them? Sounds like it would be a Korean version of The Nutty Professor, and about as successful.

If you're interested in images and the media treatment of women in Korea, and if you're still reading this despite the unflattering pictures above then you probably still are, then I recommend that you also read Dramabean's post about real life "200 pounds beauty" Kim Mi-Ryeo/김미려. Unfortunately, real life didn't quite imitate art in her case.

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