Interesting article from today’s Korean Herald written by Matthew Lamers. All this talk of Korea’s branding problems have brought an interesting response from some expats. Yeah, typical icons of Korean culture such as hanoks, hanboks and kimchee are nice, but it won’t get you laid noticed. Let’s face it, for better or for worse, sex sells.
Not sure how all this plays in light of comments like “stop masturbating on my culture,” but in any case, Korea’s tourism industry sure can use some help besides the occasional gyopos flying over to visit their relatives.
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Doesn’t Seoulian post here as well?
I actually found his blog to be far more interesting than the article (basically an advertisement for the book; sorry, I can tell the author put a lot of work into the piece but why are there no quotes from Seoul or the Seoul fashion group? All we get is Hurt’s perspective on why his book was rejected.)–but here’s my main point after the long side note: is there a blog out there that specifically comes from the angle of a new husband in Korea? I mean, I think the blog post I read was intended solely for Seoulian’s family, but I’ll admit that I found it guiltily addicting to read. Some gems:
So the Dad speaks some English? Or is this translated from Korean? My curiosity has been piqued. I could only imagine an ajosshi telling someone “make baby!”
And this to-do list is golden:
1) Learn Korean
2) Lose the 15 lbs I’ve put on since we got married six months ago.
3) Get a masters in something
4) Quit smoking
5) Sleep more
6) Play less Xbox
Gotta love No. 5 and kudos for sharing this interesting insight into your life.
TS. FYI, the author to each blog entry is just below the title in light grey font.
A case study of how a Polish architect student turned newspaper designer overcame the problem of branding regarding dry, uninspiring Eastern European newspapers.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jacek_utko_asks_can_design_save_the_newspaper.html
His core idea was to start with the architectural rule between form/function with buildings and identify an analogous relationship between design/content in the context of newspapers. He ran with that idea, experimented with bold designs, and the effect on newspaper circulation was startling.
Great design is a big part of great branding. But great design comes from great ideas. The government suits have their priorities ass-backwards. They have no business trying to artificially engineer a brand. They should be exploring ways to stimulate the indigenous idea-generating capabilities, studying how other countries do it if need be, and adapting it to the local environment. Once a robust idea-generating capability is in place, whether it be in fashion, sub-culture, software, what have you, then the branding largely takes care of itself. Until the stuffed stiff suits realize this, its all just image over substance.
“They have no business trying to artificially engineer a brand. ”
Sure, but old habits are hard to break. They’ve been in the business of artificially engineering culture for years—ever notice the absence of political satire from Korean TV?
In any case, one doesn’t have to look far to find that there is more to Korean culture than pansori, chaebols and the same old pop stars on ten different TV comedy shows a day (with all that experience, you’d think they’d be able to pull something off better than the clichéd funny dances and one-line imitations).
For example, take a look at John Hurt’s street fashion blog, http://www.feetmanseoul.com, or Jon Dunbar’s longer running personal blog/pictorial guide to the Korean punk scene, http://www.deahanmindecline.com.
Hmm.
Have to chime in here, since I think this post is a bit…off.
I’m not sure where the “sex sells” or “show a little skin” angle comes from, but the point of the article in the Herald wasn’t at all along those lines, but rather that more abstract parts of the lived culture here should be more emphasized — e.g. soju tents, kalbi roasted outside on a summer night, a party culture that doesn’t know the idea of “last call”, etc. I don’t really see the link to “sex sells” or a post about foreigners thinking Korean women are “hot.” Most of the article dealt with the fact that City Hall and govt. suits don’t like anything that deviates from their promotion of sanitized culture only, as opposed to looking for fresher, hipper, and younger elements of Korean life to present.
Sure, the book itself was partially the focus of the story, as much as the angle on the Presidential Commission and nation branding was, but that was the point: as a member of said commission who is trying to promote the culture and has actually created a product along the lines I’m speaking — essentially, putting my money where my mouth is — it’s an interesting case study in itself.
The book is mostly street photography, street fashion portraits, runway photos from several fashion shows, as well as assorted other editorial pieces and photo essays. Not that I don’t think that showing skin helps promote things a lot of the time, but I don’t think that was at all the point of the story, nor is it the point of the photo book, if you actually flip through it.
I think that the interpreting the story’s angle along the lines of “show hot Korean chicks” is a pretty long stretch, no matter what one thinks of the book or the article about it.
And just for clarification’s sake, the Feetmanseoul.com was created not by a “John Hurt” but my Michael Hurt (me), aka “The Metropolitician”, and is Korea’s only constantly-updated, English-language source of information about Korean street fashion. It is also a source for a lot of the pictures in “The Seoul Fashion Report”, which is our attempt to get a different visual representation of Korean culture out there, while also promoting our idea that Korean street fashion culture is most definitely lively and interesting.
What disappointed and surprised me was the fact that yes, most of the suits I showed the book to (I didn’t want to give names to the Herald to interview because I didn’t want to make bitter enemies by implying that their lukewarm reaction to the book would get individual names in the newspaper, which I don’t think is fair — they didn’t really like the book, and that’s that — don’t have to pass out blame for it beyond a general sense) were stuck in pointing out nitpicky things such as trash on the ground, or the fact that a Korean was posed in lingerie on a few pages (not that you can’t see that in any Korean subway station ad or on the Home Shopping channel here).
It’s ok for them to not like the book if they think it’s poorly done, or not up to snuff, or something more legitimate. But Kyobo, for example, pulled it off their shelves and put it in the back room because it might become an “issue.” When I pressed the manager to provide an explanation, he showed me the photo essay with the Korean women in lingerie. I remarked that many of the other photo books on their shelves from around the world aren’t censored accordingly, noting that many books from Europe have full nudity, actual sexual intercourse, or that the average Italian Vogue one can buy in the store has buck-nekkid girls all throughout. He had nothing to say, and knew I was right.
The point is that it’s a KOREAN woman in undies. And that’s embarrassing. Or somehow, a photo essay about a love motel means this is a “negative” image of Korea. One might not want to build a tourism campaign around love motels, surely, but a photo book that includes a racy yet artistic photo essay about a love motel with NO nudity isn’t going to make people run for the hills.
What the fashion folks funded by the suits forget is that fashion is SUPPOSED to be edgy, provocative, and even sometimes controversial. But the contradiction for that sector is that the suits wants Korean fashion to be thrown in with all the rest of the promotion, which is commercial, safe, and unprovocatively pleasant. Well, that may make Korean fashion suits happy, but that’s not what international designers or buyers want to see.
Point of the article was that playing it safe and conservative often doesn’t serve Korea well — but it wasn’t about “sex” or “chicks.” That’s just about as short-sighted as the suits who flip through pages and pages of good stuff and decent photo work and gasp at the occasional “racy” picture. The book isn’t about that, and one shouldn’t be distracted, on a grade school level, by the fact that there are a few “naughty” pics that schoolboys might giggle over, mixed in with the other 95% of various and good photo/editorial work.
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