Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chellovek]

One student just now reckoned that the reason the Pepsi logo looks like the korean flag is because a Korean or Korean-American invented the name Pepsi. He was offered a blank cheque but refused the money instead preferring the a logo that resembled the Korean flag.

I had a brief gander on the internet and found nothing to back this up.

Truth aside, I'm curious to know is if anyone else has encountered this story/myth?

[AussieGav]

[ThingsComeAround]

the current Pepsi likeness came from the 1950's
http://logotalks.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pepsi-logos3.jpg

Why would a Korean care that Taegukki is on a soft drink? And if the myth is true, why isn't Pepsi the drink of choice for all in the RoK?

[comm]

Yet another interesting topic drives me to Wikipedia...

Officially, the Pepsi Globe symbol was a patriotic addition to a bottle cap during WWII. They simply took three stripes of red, white and blue, and swirled the red/blue a bit.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepsi_Globe

More importantly, though the Korean flag was originally implemented in 1882, it was banned from use in Korea during the Japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945. So it seems rather doubtful that the Pepsi Globe was directly inspired by it, since I'd imagine most Americans had never seen it.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_South_Korea

[Steelrails]

There is a scene about this in the Korean movie "Attack the Gas Station"

The student probably saw that and either A)Took it literally (not unlikely) or B) Saw it, got the joke it was making, and decided to go with it and in doing so pull your leg a little.

[chellovek]

Aye those were the articles I checked out on my quick check, comm.

I didn't think it was true, I was just interested as to where the idea might have come from, to which Steelrails has provided a good lead.