Korean Sociological Image #38: Gendered Marketing
With the exception of some medicines such as painkillers, presumably the majority of things that humans can eat or drink taste exactly the same and have exactly the same physiological effects on both sexes.
So why are so many marketed so differently to both, or even almost exclusively just to one? It’s really quite bizarre:
Already having deeply analyzed Korean examples of both however, and providing possible reasons for the divisions, today’s post is a light one just for the sake of providing a few more recent examples, starting with the opening commercial featuring the girl-group KARA (카라) for Pepero (빼빼로) chocolate sticks. And with 55% of Lotte Confectionery’s (롯데제과) annual sales of them being made around “Pepero Day” every November 11, then one can hardly bemoan the company for looking for ways to encourage consumers to buy them throughout the year. But still, I doubt that Lotte will go so far as to produce similar commercials featuring male groups instead, and especially not with their members pretending to make “V-lines” with the Pepero sticks in them.
But why not? After all, young male stars are also often expected to behave in the same way on Korean television, and men with feminized faces are becoming more and more popular with Korean women too.
Alas, and in Lotte’s defense, it is because this concept known as aegyo (애교), or collection of childish speaking styles, gestures, and mannerisms, is already much more strongly associated with women than with men:
And so Lotte is just playing into that, albeit also perpetuating the notion that it is “normal” for women in the process. But while it can certainly be annoying and frustrating when grown women repeatedly do it on television however (although I am not against it per se; hey, cute is cute), that doesn’t justify any “jokes” that women deserve to be slapped for it:
Meanwhile, seeing as we were discussing KARA’s commercials for Pepero, it behooves me to mention the slight lesbian overtones of another in the series in passing:
But back on topic, note that Pulmuone’s (푸무원) commercial below encourages men to drink its products when they want to have “a light morning”, but women when they want to have “a light body”:
And Yakult (야쿠르트) has produced a new low-fat version of its Will (윌) yogurt drink, which I think I can be forgiven for assuming is aimed only at women:
Next, while not related to gender divisions in marketing, but interesting nevertheless, you may also like – or rather, find a little surreal and disturbing – this Welch’s commercial, quite representative of the sort of hyperreal America often presented in Korean advertisements:
And finally, I’ll let this Japanese one speak for itself:
Can anyone think of any more interesting ones for foods or drinks, with gender-divisions or otherwise?
(For all posts in the Korean Sociological Images series, see here)
For some reason I find myself wanting icecream…
Sorry, I can’t really think of anything else to add to this! Oh, wait, that aegyo attack was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen. Also I couldn’t work out whether you were disapproving of her aegyo that deserved a slap or of him pretending to slap her for doing it?
Well, disapproving of both, but especially of him pretending to slap her for doing it: I admit I’ve never seen that myself, and of course those that write about such things on the internet are unrepresentative and prone to exaggeration, but with those qualifications out of the way I’ve still heard of many stories of Korean boyfriends slapping girlfriends from expats. So, no pun intended, but it really struck a nerve with me.
(Update: I’ve edited the text a little to make that clearer)
Just checking ㅋㅋ I don’t quite get it myself – why is that funny? Him hitting her I mean. Is it implying that he’s hitting her because he likes it? Or the opposite? Because all the other stuff they say and the text on screen implies that he sort of likes it or is being drawn in by her aegyo at least, but then when he pretends to slap her the text on screen reads “aegyo that begs for a fist” – that’s pretty much what it means anyway.
I have to say I’ve never heard a story like that. Are you referring to full on violence, playful slapping or something in between? Intending to hurt or just thinking it’s funny?
The reason I asked is because all the people on the clip laughed at it – it’s obviously something they all understand and get, and something I completely don’t!
Yeah, I didn’t get it either, for the reasons you describe.
The slapping was just something I used to read about on English teacher forums like Dave’s Esl Cafe: a foreigner would be out drinking, or maybe just at a convenience store, and would see a Korean couple arguing, and then the boyfriend slap or even hit the girlfriend. Moreover, if the foreigner (usually a he) would step in to stop it, both the boyfriend and the girlfriend would get angry with him, in some cases with police being called and both of them (and their friends) angrily blaming the foreigner for starting a fight, without mentioning the slapping of course.
Again, and I stress, I’ve never ever seen this, just read it about it…but because of such stories, to be frank I’d be hesitant in trying to stop it if I saw it. Of course, it depends on the situation, and I probably would still try in the end, but, well, I wouldn’t have the same hesitation in New Zealand.
On the other hand, maybe things have improved in recent years? After all, there’s really been quite a sea-change in this regard, with the Korean police now increasingly willing to prosecute for domestic violence, and battered women to report it. So if good Samaritans ever were blamed for starting fights etc then probably they’d be less likely to be so now.
I’ve definitely noticed a trend of not butting into other people’s business on the street, or people not being impressed if you do. That said, however, the one time I stepped in in the early hours when one young guy was basically kicking another’s arse into the ground, and a group of girls who seemed to know them both was standing around not able to do much, once it calmed down I was thanked by a couple of the girls who were there.
But, like you, I’ve never seen a man hitting a woman when they’ve been arguing in Korea. And of my male Korean friends, I’ve never known any of them to do that, or to even make a joke about it, and you’ve been in Korea long enough now that if you haven’t seen it… Curious that no female foreigners ever commented to say they had been hit themselves. I’m afraid I have to doubt whether this was/is as the Dave’s commenters would have us believe.
I’ve seen plenty of women girlishly slapping their boyfriends though, with the compulsory accompanying 오빠아아앙. Evil. Evil.
There’s something to that . . . I’ve seen a lot of fake violence perpetrated by young women against young men, including punches, slaps, etc., which seems to be some kind of play acting of distress and anger. Doesn’t seem to hurt, and totally accepted by people around them. If anything, it’s really similar to the play violence I used to see my high school students use against each other. But I’ve almost never seen the same kinds of play used by young men against young women.
I’m not sure how much this connects to actual violence, of which I’ve unfortunately seen and witnessed a few cases. The most vicious was a former neighbor in an officetel who would get drunk and beat his girlfriend – who thanked my roomate and I after we coaxed her into sitting in our room after she fled his, and called the police for her. The police did in fact come to pick him up, and the woman and her boyfriend left together with the police, from which I gather she did in fact press charges against him.
He’s pretending to punch her (주먹을 부르는 애교 — aegyo that asks for the fist) because her gag (that was meant to be more funny than cute) was a purposefully exaggerated and annoying version of aegyo, where she talks more closely to the manner of an actual pre-schooler with a short tongue than a woman trying to appear cute. Also part of the gag was that it was introduced by her fellow members as typical aegyo, but it turned out to be (purposefully) annoying.
I’d like to contend that he fake punch is part of the physical vocabulary of the (old) comedy world (often the requisite answer to a purposefully misleading or annoying comment or action), and should not be simply reduced to an example of misogyny just because she is a girl.
Thanks for the explanation, and in hindsight I should certainly have provided more context. But still, even if the fake punch in response to a purposefully misleading or annoying comment or action is a common trope in Korean comedy, surely the trope itself remains highly problematic?
And hell, how is it even funny? Woman provides exaggerated and annoying version of aegyo, guy pretends to hit her for it. Fucking hilarious.
Seriously, I am often astounded at the sheer level of physical abuse displayed in Korean popular culture (albeit dramas and especially movies rather than comedy, and men hitting men rather than men hitting women), and although Korean attitudes towards domestic violence have improved markedly in recent years as I mentioned to Seamus, there is still a long way to go. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to think that lenient attitudes towards displays of it in popular culture may have something to do with that.
I think it’s really cultural thing. Western countries have higher awareness of the seriousness of violence against women, so you are very conditioned to react against even a sign of it, in short because in the West it’s complete taboo to display even an implication of violence like that, although its not meant to be violent.
In Korea, while there very certainly is an awareness of the violence, people aren’t conditioned to act strongly against even the implication of violence against women. Simply put, there is no taboo against pretending to hit a woman(women in particular), as long as you are pretending. So really the western equivalent would be he pretended to hit a guy. Then you wouldn’t be so wtffff about it.
Taboo is a cultural thing. I don’t think its wrong to *pretend* to hit a woman just because she’s a woman and that should be considered wrong. Obviously, there was no intention of violence at all. As long as actual violence is completely taboo I think it’s okay.
Choco Party – Good Good
Oh man, how could I have forgotten that…?
omg wtf???
14 seconds of bemused wtfery…. o.o
EUGGGH Gender advertisements will be the death of me. Whenever I hear, see or SMELL ONE. I get so angry. I don’t even know why. It’s like a trigger. The UK has SO MANY.
Fairy liquid – a man washes the dishes, they treat him like some idiot guy who’s pleased with washing dishes so he has to dance about it “oi don’t get cheeky/big headed” whatever
Women in fairy liquid – “oh throughout the years, we competant women have been able to wash dishes with fairy liquid YAYAYAAY!!”
Oven cleaner – “so easy, even a man can do it” sexist. If a commercial had a DIY advert with that slogan but for women, it’d be taken down but since it’s a man we just laugh AHAHAHA. ¬.¬
Activia yoghurt – the only man featured is displayed as scrawny Asian guy who is really effeminate “That’s *mmyyyyyy* favourite flavour!” and allthe women go “Ooooohhh!” I almsotdied.
“Tummy loving care” – I say “total load o’CRAP”
I think it was a Hovis commercial where the wife steals her husbands sandwich and he’s such a stupid caveman he puts wanted posters up and is searching everywere for his sammich
DIET COLA – DIE
Head n SHOULDER – WHY DO WOMEN, have orgasmic journeys in whatever land whilst men wash their hair and women some into his shower caressing him DIE
LYNX DIE DIE DIE
ABBEY or Santander as they are now – Some boy cycling down an American suburb… all the men are doing creative things or mechanical things. One woman helps carry in the sofa with other men. All other women are seen at the park with their children.
WHAT HAPPENED TO MENS WRINKLES AND THINNING LIPS HUH???? HUH????
In a nutshell: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwrK-foCTaQ
Sorry for ranting. I guess I didn’t really contribute anything but I listed the genderised adverts I can’t stand. :>
“But back on topic, note that Pulmuone’s (푸무원) commercial below encourages men to drink its products when they want to have “a light morning”, but women when they want to have “a light body”:”
Did you happen to see in the news this week a research study showing that thin and regular weight women have “stress” regions of their brain activate when asked to imagine themselves overweight but men don’t? The researchers plan to follow up with overweight women to determine whether the stressor is thinking about oneself as overweight or imagining oneself as different from reality. Since men weren’t bothered imagining themselves as overweight, the former is more likely.
I wonder if the difference is innate or cultural or mutually reinforcing. On TV and in movies, one is more likely to see overweight men with attractive mates than vice-versa. If the overweight men are wealthy, then the media are reinforcing reality, but if the men are average joes, then the media are spinning a fantasy that buffers the self-image of unattractive men. Interesting that apart from rare examples like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, one almost never sees overweight, plain women with more attractive, lean men. Is it because Hollywood thinks there’s no audience for this sort of movie or TV plot? If so, is it because women cannot suspend disbelief?
I was on the KTX this weekend and they had this one particular commercial on that was pretty much the most “애교” filled piece of advertising I’d ever seen; I wish I could name the actress doing them. It was a commercial for Chungcheongbukdo, and if I didn’t know any better, I would have sworn it was being done in sign language for the volume-off medium of KTX TV. Pretty outstanding work.
Is this the ad?
If so, then the actress was 한지나.
I’m a full-blooded Korean girl who’s lived in Korea for the majority of her life; so why do I find that ad annoying as hell?
I dunno why, but ever since I’ve got into college, I found that generally, guys preferred it when you’re straightforward and honest rather than acting cutesy. Is that a general trend? I wouldn’t know.
Which ad exactly? There’s so many to find annoying! :D
I too prefer women that are straightforward and honest rather than acting cutesy, and it’s good to hear that Korean guys are pretty much the same (you are referring to Korean guys, right?). Which raises the question of why on Earth women are portrayed like that on TV if neither guys like women like that nor women like behaving like that…
Oh, sorry, I meant the one with Goo Hara in it.
I really, really don’t understand why women are portrayed like that on TV; maybe it has an appeal to older audiences, or it could be that there is a clash between old-fashioned notions of feminity (you have to act cutesy and whatnot-blah) and more recent notions of feminity, although I’m not quite sure about this.
Actually, I think what Korean guys really want is someone who is assertive and straightforward, but who will listen to them and follow their orders; which I find intriguing because they’re basically two different sets of attitude and sorta cancel each other out. Or maybe, Korean guys like girls who are assertive, but cute SOME of the time, not ALL the time. Or maybe it’s just that the ads are targeted at female audiences as well so they have to make it look cute, not overtly sexy. I’d have to look into this.
I feel like they want a girl friend who is assertive and strightforward because that causes so many less headaches- Oh here’s an idea!!! Why don’t we not pretend or fool people and say what is in our heads?!!!. But they’re conditioned to want a fake cute girlfriend.
I know -_- *rollseyes*
Totally and completely off topic, but when I played the 애교 video my cat ran over to the computer and started trying to “talk” with 수영