You might have witnessed a recent trend in Korea's advertising - male endorsing female products and vice versa - in a way that's never been done before.
SHINee (샤이니) is not the first boy group that endorses young girl's cosmetic brand, for boy groups are often used to encourage purchase intention through giving away idol souvenirs when customer make certain amount of purchase. But as far as I understand, SHINee is the first boy group that endorses with themselves appearing as the end user of the products.
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| SHINee endorsing Etude House's Tinted Lip Balm (Source) |
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| SHINee members testing and applying lip stick for each other (Source) |
No longer soccer hero Park Ji-Sung (박지성), Yoo In-na (유인나) became the protagonist for Gillette CF in 2011.
Ah-ha, this is classic. So Ji-Sub (소지섭) for VIVIEN - a renown bra brand.
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| Source |
I tried generalizing this advertising trend, but I realized I just couldn't. Because there's nothing to generalize - gender bending? No, not really. Except that SHINee uses the cosmetics themselves, Yoo In-Na does not uses the razor on her
One thing for sure is that this trend is nothing else than just a new technique for advertising; it creates new topics for discussion, enhancing brand awareness.
However, I believe this trend is unique to Korea. Yoo In-Na's Gillette CF is titled "A Virtual Date with Yoo In-Na", inviting audience to fantasize about Yoo In-Na (in sexy oversize shirt) shaving gently on your chin. So Ji-Sub talks about how free and easy woman would feel in wire-less bras, and concludes - "My Woman wears VIVIEN".
This is a country whose gender gap ranking tops the world's most deplorable. What's so surprising if some advertisement is sexist?
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