Korean Commercial Films, CFs for short, have long targeted consumers through consumer-centered marketing. They focus on creating a cultural experience for the viewer, as opposed to simply trying to sell the commodity that it is trying to advertise. These CFs go beyond the product and, instead, attempt to engage with the consumer through the experienced realities and everyday lives of the consumer themselves.
As discussed in previous classes, the phenomenon of hallyu-hwa has led to the integration of hallyu into seemingly unrelated industries, whether that be water heaters, cars, or even banks. But there is no industry more reliant on Korean celebrities and idols than the Korean advertising industry. As Olgo Fedorenko puts it in the chapter “South Korean Advertising as Popular Culture” in the book The Korean Popular Culture Reader, advertising has “morphed into entertainment” (357).
One of the three main aspects Fedorenko discusses is the use of sex appeal and commodity aesthetics in advertising. On my first trip to South Korea in high school, I distinctly remember sitting in the hotel room, flipping through the TV channels at night. On one channel came a commercial for the soft-drink Sprite, featuring Korean model and actress Clara Lee.
In the advertisement, Lee walks onto a beach party in a bright green bikini swimsuit, presses a lever on a giant soda fountain system, and proceeds to take a shower in Sprite. The viewer is shown multiple shots of Lee’s body glistening in Sprite. Male party goers and the lifeguard look onto Lee in amazement, one man even spitting out the Sprite from his mouth at Lee’s beauty. Lee proceeds to turn to the crowd of men and ask, ‘Will you shower with me?’. The beach party is a huge hit and the crowd has a good time dancing and showering in Sprite.
This advertisement was so jarring to me because, prior to coming to Korea, I had developed the impression that Korea was very conservative and not as reliant on sex appeal in their advertising as Western countries. What I hadn’t realized at the time, was that “media liberalization [had] created a more permissive climate for media expression” (Fedorenko 354) in Korea. Seeing a CF that was so vividly painting a picture of Lee as the token attractive woman with a great body, asking men to shower with her in Sprite, was very surprising. This CF, in addition to selling Sprite, was meant to be consumed as a cultural product. While the commodity itself (Sprite) “remained in the background” (Fedorenko 348), the focus was more on the liberalization of the “social norms about sexuality” Fedorenko 355).
Another CF that I came across recently stars Sohye of girl-group IOI.
In ASMR style, Sohye talks to the viewer by breaking the fourth wall. She whispers:
“Hey Oppa, this summer, I’m making you samgyetang [Korean chicken and ginseng soup] so that you don’t get exhausted and grow rapidly. Eat this and you have to grow. A summer package that will help coach-nim to grow rapidly”.
In a similar fashion, two other versions of the CF feature Sohye preparing a watermelon and ssam [wraps] for ‘coach-nim’, aka the viewer. The commodity the CF is trying to sell? FIFA Online, an E-Sports online gaming platform. This is one of the most typical examples of the commodity remaining in the background and sex-appeal being at the forefront of a CF. Through the CF, Sohye talks in a very cutesy tone, referring to herself in 3rd person and using very timid gestures and expressions. She repeatedly refers to the viewer as ‘Oppa’, a term of endearment used by females to refer to older men, whether that be older brothers or a boyfriend, etc. The CF resonates with the idea that Korean girls are very cute, submissive, and take care of their Oppas. The CF has seemingly very little to do with FIFA Online itself, but it targets the Korean male viewer’s reality of the desire to have a cute girlfriend or little sister just like Sohye.
It is evident that Korea has moved far beyond the state of advertising it had in the early 1990s when CFs still portrayed the conservative societal views and media censorship. With the emergence of hallyu-hwa and the Westernization of Korean society, we see a greater reliance on Korean celebrities and liberal modes of expression such as sex appeal in the marketing tactics used by agencies. I firmly believe that as Hallyu continues to spread throughout the rest of the world and Korean CFs, like K-Pop music and K-dramas, increase their reach, these advertisements will become increasingly Westernized so that even more international fans of K-Pop start to consume Korean products such as samgyetang and E-sports platforms such as FIFA Online.
Works Cited:
Olga Fedorenko, 2014, “South Korean Advertising as Popular Culture,” The Korean Pop Culture Reader, 341 – 62.
The Politics of K-Pop 
It’s interesting to see the spectrum through which sex appeal in South Korean CF’s is used. There are instances where actresses are outright seductive, while in other times these actresses adhere to the fetish of the submissive Asian; it makes the effort to appeal to Western audiences quite blatant. The stereotype of the quiet yet sexy Asian girl is still is perpetuated and the objectification of women in media is becoming too normalized. However, in South Korea, explicitly speaking about sex is still considered distasteful; idols continuously hint at it, giving in to the concept that leaving things to your imagination can conjure up “sexier” images than the real deal (i.e. there’s a part of girl group Girls’ Day’s choreography in their song “Something” where they allude to having sex while the male is on top). The KPOP industry likes to maintain this idea that idols are “pure” and couldn’t ever have sex, yet it still wants you to think these idols are sexy. It’s a much more prominent factor in the career of female idols/celebrities, whereas for male idols/celebrities lean into the “softer” or “flower boy” look. As a Korean-American female who partly grew up in Korea, I can attest to the intense amount of pressure I, as well as all of my other female friends, felt to be like and look like these female idols. I had to sit a certain way, not eat too much, eat “prettily,” speak in a “feminine” tone, laugh while covering my mouth, put makeup on, etc. Even after moving back to the U.S., I sometimes fall back into these habits; the simplification of Korean female idols as pure yet seductive “doll-like” figures in popular media is, in my opinion, toxic, and pigeon-holes Korean women into a hyper-specific gender role.
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I have always wondered why girl idols are likely to be consumed in the soju advertisements in a sexual way. In every soju advertisements, girl idols continuously make sexual gestures to satisfy the sexual desires coming from the male consumers. It is hard to see girl idols acting rough and tough since these images tend to go against the male consumers’ demands. It is very problematic that these gender role stereotypes are commonly distributed in various advertisements, and being delivered to the audiences on a daily basis. It is pathetic that it has become somewhat inevitable to appeal girl idols’ sexual manners in order to satisfy the male consumers. Because media continuously let out the contents containing such gender-biased ideas to the audiences, it becomes very likely that the public gets brainwashed without even realizing. These days, however, more and more advertisement companies are rapidly starting to sense the current social moves and reflect them into their advertising contents. They show women’s beauty is not just limited to the previously-known beauty standards. Yes, the new feminism wave in the advertising industry is redefining the term “female-ness.” Thus, they are newly introducing this term “femvertising,” which is a mixed version of the terms, “feminism” and an “advertisement.” Although it is still on a dispute that this femvertising phenomenon has not occurred purely for the women consumers, but rather for the selfish motives of the companies, it is still meaningful in a sense that this incident shows people cannot ignore the economic influences of women consumers anymore. The femvertising is very closely related to the neoliberalism that has been striking this world, and is becoming a new method of enlightening the consumers of the next generation.
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