Korean Job Discussion Forums

kermo · Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:22 pm Post subject: Naughty Yogurt "Art"

[whose bright idea was this?]

Nude Yogurt Promotion Stunt Was Obscene

Naked Dairy Fight Had No Artistic Merit, Court Finds
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld an obscenity conviction for a yogurt executive whose firm put on a much-discussed nude promotion stunt for its products. The court upheld a fine for the dairy executive identified as Kang (52) of W5 million (US$5,000).

The company staged a promotion event at an art gallery in Seoul's Insa-dong district in January 2003 in which three naked models paraded around the stage spraying yogurt on each other's bodies and throwing yogurt on some of the some 70 assembled spectators and 10 reporters.

��The law defines ��licentious or lascivious acts�� as behavior that stimulates the sexual desires of ordinary people and incites arousal, and this behavior may damage or distort the normal sense of shame that should accompany such acts,�� the court said in its ruling. ��This applies to the obscene act of young nude female models whose bodies are caked in wheat flour spraying each other with yogurt from vaporizers until the naked form underneath is revealed.�� The court also fined the three models W500,000 (US$500) to W2 million.

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JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

Two thoughts.

Wow, it was that long ago? Seemed like last year. Confused

Wow, you had to dig for that one. Oh. I guess the ruling was just handed down.

Hater Depot · Joined: 29 Mar 2005

[quoteThis applies to the obscene act of young nude female models whose bodies are caked in wheat flour spraying each other with yogurt from vaporizers until the naked form underneath is revealed.[/quote]

Brilliant. If only I were in charge of the award committees.

billybrobby · Joined: 09 Dec 2004

The "normal sense of shame." ha. that's funny. At least they go outright and use the word 'shame.' I find a lot of laws enforced by stern looking old men are in existence just because people find their own peepees and hoohas to mortifyingly embarrassing. But of course, the powers-that-be like to dress up their own infantile compulsions with a lot of fancy terminology and dubious justifications. ah, the rule of law.

kermo · Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:40 pm Post subject:

bellum99 · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: don't need to know

Now that is true art. I could learn to love the arts more if it was presented in better way. Naked models running around shooting yogurt sounds okay to me. I wish I was there...... Sad

Faron · Joined: 13 Jan 2006

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

Scenes from that particular, er, "showing" at the gallery in Insa-dong. Artistic or obscene? The judges have decided (twice) that it's obscene, but you be your own judge. (btw, these photos and more appeared in the press, print and online versions, but perhaps what's acceptable for stodgy, old, male-chauvinist, T&A-friendly Korean dailies is too risque for Dave's ESL Cafe. I'll let the Mods issue their own ruling on that.)

In performance art, the artist will often seek to tear down the artificial wall that separates art & artist from the general public, the "observed" from the "observer". (I don't see too many female reporters in the front row, but a few towards the back... Why weren't they protesting?) Here we see the "artists" going interactive in a big way, as members of the press corps are invited to lend a hand:

What's with that one girl in the high heels??? She ruined the whole effect. Cheapened it. Made what was supposed to have been pure and potent seem all tawdry and room-salonesque.

10, 9, 8, 7...

Gee, I've had to go back and correct typos three times. I guess I was distracted by something.

Faron · Joined: 13 Jan 2006

Those guys are having a little too much fun. Wink

Paji eh Wong · Joined: 03 Jun 2003

manlyboy · Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 11:09 pm Post subject: Re: Naughty Yogurt "Art"

Faron · Joined: 13 Jan 2006

In today's society sex sells. When I saw that picture..... I wanted some yogurt so it worked! Shocked

stumptown · Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 12:07 am Post subject:

When I saw those pictures...I made my own yogurt Twisted Evil

bellum99 · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: don't need to know

Way too much information!

JongnoGuru · Joined: 25 May 2004 Location: peeing on your doorstep

Men squirting a milky liquid on naked chicks' bodies? No, I don't see any blatant symbolism there. Gosh, just what were the creators of this event trying to communicate? Rolling Eyes

I've actually seen some (even state-funded! Shocked

) performance art in the West that was superficially of a piece with this, though the "message" being communicated was considerably more complex than simply men spunking on women, and in every case had an ANTI-materialist, ANTI-consumerist ethos.

I suppose for certain types of products that are undeniably, unabashedly sex-related, I can imagine companies doing something like this, but in the highly restricted confines of a VERY select target audience. But for any serious Western (specifically N. American or non-Continental European) manufacturer of a broadly marketed product (a dairy goods producer???), a media stunt like this would be utter suicide. The Koreans and Japanese (check out some of their late-night TV commercials) seem amazingly uninhibited. The backlash for this Korean dairy producer seems entirely confined to the courts. I doubt the general Korean public would take it out on the company by boycotting their products.