Day 16 (8.28)- Stars…. They’re just like us!
In the US, it’s common to see famous actors, singers, and sports stars on promotional ads for anything from cosmetics, to credit card companies, to Kraft macaroni and cheese. In Korea, this aspect of popular culture as a use of advertisement is amped up to 11.
Here’s some of my personal favorites…
My favorite girl group Blackpink for a severely overpriced lipstick line
Blackpink again, this time I believe this one is for a tour or show of some sort.
Irene from Red Velvet on an ad for what I believe is some sort of Lord of the Rings style video game (don’t really get this one)
A similar ad with a different girl group for a different app.
And my personal favorite, a few famous actresses posing for the Seoul Metro Police, who need ads apparently…
The idea behind this intense product placement and famous endorsements is that if there is a famous person on it, the selling power is increased by 10-fold. Yes in the US we have Kardashian clothing lines and perfume made by Justin Bieber, but the gimmick usually stops there, and the endorsement tends to make sense for the product. Shaquille O’Neill endorses Icy Hot because he’s an old athlete with a lot of aches and pains, Jennifer Aniston endorses Aveeno because she has beautiful skin. But why do we have in Korea, famous young actresses and singers endorsing the police? Here, it’s more about having the famous face than the product. In the States, we buy the product because an celebrity we like endorses it, in Korea, they buy the product because the celebrity is on it….I myself was even tempted to buy that Blackpink lipstick, just because I like the group, not because I wanted lipstick. So why not have stars on absolutely everything if it means those products or services (see police service) get support? It’s actually a pretty smart marketing idea.
Sometimes the endorsements don’t make a whole lot of sense though…Not really sure who wants to look like Shrek…
Even I got to be a k-pop idol on the subway, if only for a fleeting moment….
