Korean Job Discussion Forums

[thoreau]

I don't know if you've seen the commercial for the Samsung Sens, but it seems to portray white round eyes as pigs.

The first part of the commercial shows a bunch of white people using their laptops. On their face is a pig snout - I'm guessing its supposed to represent the typical Korean outlet.

Along comes a Korean girl without the snout - her laptop doesn't need to be plugged in.

Really odd how only white people are used in the first part of the video - why not feature other Koreans? Add to that the entire foreigners bring swine flu to Korea and the underlying message is clear.

We're pigs.

[Juregen]

You are just a tad to sensitive.

[caniff]

[sluggle]

ha, that is a clever parallel between pig snouts on whitey and a swine flu scare.

[GoldMember]

Saw the same ad. Don't get it! The whiteys have laptops with batteries that don't last so they, plug into their piggy snouts and along comes the Asian (Probably Korean) girl with the Samsung laptop that has longer battery life.

[Goku]

I saw the ad and it struck me as really racist.

If you do the reverse test (make all Koreans pigs and have the woman holding the laptop white) there seems to be some obvious underlying racist remark.

Although to be fair, previous laptop commercials frequently portray non-Koreans with their laptops. I remember seeing another commercial wearing the 1920's Charlie Chaplin-getup and 2 of the 3 women were white westerners.

It seems that everyone is white in their commercials, except the person holding the laptop. Anyone else noticed this?

[coralreefer_1]

Honestly I would love to see this commercial (I don't own a TV)

I would guess what they were "trying" to say was that the Korean laptop is much better than the foreign company's laptop (IBM,APPLE...etc_), though I would guess there would be a Japanese pig somewhere mixed in there as well if that were the case.


Anyone have a link to the video? I searched the Samsung PR page for it, but to no avail.

[caniff]

[bikefast]

Or what about the subway ad with the two women in swimsuits? One is overweight and one is really skinny. Have you seen this one? I don't speak korean, but there is a giant word next to the obese woman. I'd love to know what they're going for on that one.

[IlIlNine]

[fermentation]

Korean commercials are hard to understand. They seem to have stuff that have nothing to do with the product they're advertising, are sometimes balantly racist, or unintentially funny.

And they always have to have white people for some reason even if the product has nothing to do with foreigners and it would've made no difference if they used Koreans instead.

[Big Pun Lives]

Maybe the ad is saying forgien laptops use more engergy and the Samsung one will last longer. Who knows and who really cares?

Racism? Nah, I would find the movie Menace II Society offensive if I was a Korean.

-Big Pun

[Gibberish]

[Smee]

Yeah, I kind of wish they didn't have all the white people as pigs.

There will come a time, probably well after we've left, when people will start looking at Korean ads. I hope they don't take the easy way out and say "oh, we just used white people because they're so fashionable," and I hope instead there's some thoughtful analysis on the way international people are portrayed.

And yes, I'll say that the same kind of thought needs to be embraced by all our home countries. I think this PC sensitivity to racism is way overboard---what, nobody is allowed to imply that a lot of black guys have big lips anymore?---but there is more dialogue at home, where, say, a commercial that portrayed a group of black guys as savages---or gangsters---would at least get some attention.

[backhand]