Description

A common metaphor for advertising is South Korea is “flower of capitalism,” which, rather than calling attention to the intrinsic links between commercial advertising and capitalism, frames advertising as a wholesome creative medium driven by the ethos of public good and contributing positively to society. Rarely dismissed as an intrusive commercial message, South Korean advertising is consumed like any other product of popular culture and even celebrated for the humanist societal ideals it often advances. This vision of advertising as overwhelmingly benign is enforced by semi-government censorship institutions, industry associations and NGOs, which scrutinize advertising content. Not only is advertising expected to promote inspirational ideals, it is pressured to foster democracy, with concerned citizens and civic groups demanding that businesses use their advertising budgets to support progressive media—even if those media regularly critique the businesses in question. Such valorization of advertising’s potential for positive societal interventions over advertising’s commercial imperatives clashes with the principles of free market and liberal freedom of expression, which grew hegemonic in South Korea since the ascendance of neoliberalism from the late 1990s. Thus advertising becomes a focal point for far-reaching contestations not only over politics of representation but also over media regimes and an overall vision for South Korea’s future. Exploring conflicting claims on advertising, my presentation draws out critical openings and disjunctures which have defined contemporary South Korea.

Olga Fedorenko is a doctoral candidate in East Asian Studies Department of the University of Toronto. Her research deals with discourses and practices of advertising in contemporary South Korea and is based on a 14-month fieldwork in Seoul, which included an internship at a major advertising agency and observation at an advertising censorship board. Her dissertation is provisionally entitled “Enchanted with ‘flower of capitalism’: Consuming, producing and censoring advertising in contemporary South Korea.”