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Why is Samsung poking fun at foreigners speaking Korean?
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alongway



Joined: 02 Jan 2012

PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CrikeyKorea wrote:
Except that the "waegukin" was bumbling along forgetting words and not knowing enough Korean to fix his predicament i.e. the PORNO that he was watching...

THey could have used a Korean husband doing the same thing.

They could have used the same guy but instead he was watching women's volleyball.

They could have even used a non-Korean that can speak Korean half-decently.

THey chose the first idea...


That was the point. The TV is so good it can understand him. They can't make those point using a Korean husband or someone else speaking Korean well. As for the women's volleyball game, it wouldn't create the humour that this one does.

I know it's probably your first time trying to play the race card and you're all excited about that, but this one is terribly mild at worst.
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orosee



Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Location: Hannam-dong, Seoul

PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I only read the transcript/translation provided in the upper third of the linked website.

This is funny. The sub-tones are actually positive for Korean circumstances:

- a foreigner, possibly English teacher, is learning Korean because he is interested in the local language and culture (thus immediately gaining sympathy points from the Korean target audience)

- He's been learning for a year, clearly his progress cannot be that far, so no judgment on his intelligence or skills

- He's Canadian, more neutral than US American but still among those foreigners likely to have a terrible pronunciation of any language that's not English (the ad would not work with a European, nor with an Australian [an English TV would not understand that])

- He has a Korean girlfriend! She's pretty, too. How often do we see commercials, movies, TV films where e.g. a black guy has a white girlfriend? So, that's extremely progressive for Korea

Someone had to work very hard to take offense with that commercial. I remember the PSA's where Koreans were running or hiding whenever a foreigner was trying to ask them something. It fits perfectly into this pattern of being able to laugh about oneself.

So, it's funny. It's also positively progressive with respect to foreigners in Korea.
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Weigookin74



Joined: 26 Oct 2009

PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

highstreet wrote:
She is not hot at all. Probably a 5-6 out of ten.


I would have said at least a 7 or 8, not a 9 or 10 though.

I was pissed at the MBC ad, but this is ... whatever... At least we're being acknowledged. They're admitting there are foriegners in their land. Never use to see anything on Korean TV like this. Only Koreans, except for foreign commercials shown here.
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Fox



Joined: 04 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 5:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

orosee wrote:
I only read the transcript/translation provided in the upper third of the linked website.

This is funny. The sub-tones are actually positive for Korean circumstances:

- a foreigner, possibly English teacher, is learning Korean because he is interested in the local language and culture (thus immediately gaining sympathy points from the Korean target audience)

- He's been learning for a year, clearly his progress cannot be that far, so no judgment on his intelligence or skills

- He's Canadian, more neutral than US American but still among those foreigners likely to have a terrible pronunciation of any language that's not English (the ad would not work with a European, nor with an Australian [an English TV would not understand that])

- He has a Korean girlfriend! She's pretty, too. How often do we see commercials, movies, TV films where e.g. a black guy has a white girlfriend? So, that's extremely progressive for Korea

Someone had to work very hard to take offense with that commercial. I remember the PSA's where Koreans were running or hiding whenever a foreigner was trying to ask them something. It fits perfectly into this pattern of being able to laugh about oneself.

So, it's funny. It's also positively progressive with respect to foreigners in Korea.


This seems like a pretty reasonable assessment. I do not see anything to get upset about here. Too many people are viewing this through the ultra-PC lens of the west, where any sort of joke about a minority -- or even an accidental slip -- is an outrage. What's wrong with a little ribbing about the difficulty foreigners have picking up Korean? Koreans are more than willing to laugh at one another, so why begrudge them a little light-hearted chuckling at us?
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Gorf



Joined: 25 Jun 2011

PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 5:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

highstreet wrote:
She is not hot at all. Probably a 5-6 out of ten.


Agreed, this was what bugged me about the comments in this thread, more than the commercial.
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orosee



Joined: 07 Mar 2008
Location: Hannam-dong, Seoul

PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 7:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gorf wrote:
highstreet wrote:
She is not hot at all. Probably a 5-6 out of ten.


Agreed, this was what bugged me about the comments in this thread, more than the commercial.


Even that could have a positive side. The foreigner chooses his woman by her inner values rather than default to the superficial, materialistic princesses that roam the local commercials, soap operas and inner city streets.

It would have been perfect if she (the girl in the Samsung commercial) had shown herself to be a modern woman with good education (an engineer, an architect, an airline pilot) and her own, steady income which she uses to support her low income boyfriend Cool
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T-J



Joined: 10 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul EunpyungGu Yeonsinnae

PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

highstreet wrote:
She is not hot at all. Probably a 5-6 out of ten.


I think that is generous.
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Scorpion



Joined: 15 Apr 2012

PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry, I tried to watch it but Korean commercials make my ears bleed. As soon as the Korean dude started talking I had to either press the mute button or jump out the window. Why must they talk like that? Even at home if I'm watching OCN or some English language program and a Korean commercial comes on I turn into friggin Batman, leaping across the room just to get my hand on the remote control.
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eventually



Joined: 30 Nov 2011

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 3:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

hahaha. i liked it. it was a cute commercial. whoever wrote this isn't as clever as he thinks he is:

Quote:
Second, Samsung�s advertising the new �Smart TV� as being motion- and voice-controlled, and of course the premise is about how the TV can be controlled by one�s voice. There�s any number of ways to show this � a mother holding a baby and unable to grab the remote, a father doing a �magic trick� for his kid, an eight-year-old telling the TV to turn on while doing the belly flop on the sofa. Those were just off the top of my head while drinking a beer � surely Samsung�s marketing team could do one better with all the talent they have there


wow, a child doing a belly flop onto the sofa! that's marketing genius and sure to be talked about for years to come. (eye roll)
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eventually



Joined: 30 Nov 2011

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 3:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

oh, jesus, so glad this thread could derail into the do-ability of the omg female. gross.
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v88



Joined: 28 Feb 2010
Location: here

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 5:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Compared to how we are portrayed in the news and the press this is positively amazing.

A commercial for Koreans where a white guy is dating a Korean girl and the only issue is his pronunciation...and possibly his porn viewing habits.

I'll take that over the way Koreans used to tell my girl friend in public that she was a tramp for dating me and even yell and curse at me on occasion.

I can't remember ever seeing a commercial back home where a local woman was dating a guy (a new immigrant fresh off the boat) who was just learning the language. The only ethnic folks you'd see on TV either spoke perfect English or they were boat people, refugees or some form of illegal alien working in some dingy factory somewhere. And I come from a country where nearly 30% of the population is considered a visible minority, a majority of whom are first generation immigrants.
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The Cosmic Hum



Joined: 09 May 2003
Location: Sonic Space

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 8:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

T-J wrote:
highstreet wrote:
She is not hot at all. Probably a 5-6 out of ten.


I think that is generous.


Apparently, even the commercial producers are admitting as much.

"Hey...your wife not that attractive?
Watch porn on your smart TV!"

Personally, I think she is attractive enough...at least on par with the goof in the commercial.
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jvalmer



Joined: 06 Jun 2003

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 2:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Are you guys cut like Adonis and look like Brad Pitt in his 20's? It's absolutely amazing how critical you guys are on the girl's looks. I'm sure if she were sitting all alone at a bar, most you guys would be trying to get in her pants.

Anyways, I wonder how much the dude got paid for this commercial?
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goreality



Joined: 09 Jul 2009

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 4:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You don't want to offend the locals by giving the foreigner a supermodel girlfriend.
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edwardcatflap



Joined: 22 Mar 2009

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 4:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Are you guys cut like Adonis and look like Brad Pitt in his 20's? It's absolutely amazing how critical you guys are on the girl's looks. I'm sure if she were sitting all alone at a bar, most you guys would be trying to get in her pants.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You don't want to offend the locals by giving the foreigner a supermodel girlfriend.



This and this. And what v88 said. I think it's a positive
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