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Good article translated by Korea Beat  analysing the way soju is marketed in Korea versus beer.

I’ve always noticed that Soju is not marketed in the wild, debauched, throwing up-on-the-street kind of way it’s spoken about by Koreans themselves. In fact, it’s the opposite. It’s presented commercially as this sort of white, pure drink…not unlike water. The soju of choice in Busan (soju is regional in Korea) is C1, or, Clean No. 1.

It’s also the converse of the way, say, whiskey or beer is promoted in North America, which is typically very manly, dangerous, or overtly sexual. I remember studying this some in a theory class during University. How ice cubes manipulated to contain images of orfaces were common in liquor ads during the 50s and 60s, and can still be found in some glossy magazines today. Of course Vodka is pitched in the states and Europe as something clean and refreshing. But not pure and not usually with people.

Cigarette advertising in Korea has a bit of the same idea going. The brand design is very clean and tight. It’s made to look more like a luxury item than something like Camel. In fact, one cigarette company apes the Piet Mondrian non-representational “compositional” style.

Here’s a clip of a soju add featuring Sung Yu-ri, who is one of the more popular soju models in Korea. Even if you can’t understand Korean you can get a good sense of where they’re going with this in picking Yu-ri as their spokesmodel.

Beer is more manly and directly associated with fun and food. Still a tad on the innocent end for the Western viewer, but with a pranky, rapscallion angle that Koreans tend to like. I don’t want to dive too far into the deconstruction pit, but usually women in these ads are not so much sex objects, but definitely get the short end of the stick. Typically, they are the victim of some kind of buffoonery at the hands of Jang.

Here he is with some delicious food, contemplating a Prime Max, and eventually knocking a woman’s drink into her face. This ad is shown in theaters before the film starts. Usually gets big laughs. Koreans, men and women alike, love this stud muffin.