Bringing the Nazi ads to school.

A still from the edited Coreana commercial, the "Hitler" being replaced by "Nobody."

Well, a week ago the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the group that protested the Nazi-themed Coreana commercials in the first place, said they were "gratified" that the commercials were pulled. I didn't post anything on that at the time because I figured this entry would arrive sooner than it did, and I thought my Korea Times piece would have appeared last week rather than last night. I was also wary of posting anything because the SWC press release was a little vague, and it wasn't clear whether the ads were removed, or whether the Center was "gratified" that the word "Hitler" was replaced. Since I haven't seen the commercials in about a week, I'll assume that the ads actually were taken off the air. So, yeah, I guess that's good. To be honest, I was naively hoping for a little more: an apology, perhaps, or an acknowledgement that the ads were in extremely poor taste. Seems rather anti-climactic, and seems like the two companies responsible got off quite easy.

I talked about the commercials during two recent teachers' workshops, and here's a brief account of how one of them went. It's a one-sided account, obviously, but the thirty-five minutes weren't just me talking and being opportune and wise---far from it, actually---so please don't take that away from this entry. Anyway, to be honest, I went with this topic at least partly because these workshops go so poorly that I'm always looking for something, anything to talk about. I've found they go a little better when I do a chalk-and-talk lesson rather than hoping for discussion. I also felt it a good idea to talk about a Korea-related issue that was nowhere to be found in the Korean media. And, I thought it responsible as a teacher to try to educate my colleagues about something they, as teachers in turn, ought to know about.

In both classes I explained the word anti-Semitism and asked them if they knew what it meant. I asked them if they knew anything about anti-Semitism in Korea, and they said no. About a month earlier I showed them pictures from Far Countries, Near Countries, and provided them with a Korean-language news article on the US's condemnation of the author and with Korea Beat's translation of it. I passed the articles out again and drew their attention to a few of the cartoons. When asked, the teachers mentioned a few Jewish stereotypes they knew---such as Jews being wealthy and powerful---and said that these were positive traits, so they weren't sure why some would take offense. Most of the teachers had read Far Countries, Near Countries, and said they had enjoyed it, and they felt it presented history in an interesting way. And my colleagues hadn't heard of the uproar Rhie's comics had caused in the US, or that they were deemed controversial or racist in any way.

I asked them if they had heard of Hitler or Nazism, and if so, what they knew about. I don't remember exactly what they said, but it was agreed that Hitler was a bad guy. Then I showed them the two commercials. Unfortunately, the sound on the computer in the language lab doesn't work, so they missed out on the gunfire and the German shouting. During the commercials the teachers were laughing. I asked them why they were laughing, and they said it was because it was funny to see a woman looking so serious while selling cosmetics. They said the uniform and her expression presented too strong an image. I asked them if they noticed anything that might be offensive about the ad, and they said no. I drew their attention to the background, to the setting, and to the "히틀러" scrawled across the screen. They didn't pick up on it, and didn't make the connection between the woman and Nazis. One said that the painting on the fireplace was of Hitler.



We talked a little about what Hitler represents to much of the outside world and why the advertisement would be considered offensive. We talked about what Hitler represents in Korea, too. The teachers said they figured Hitler was used in the ads because he represents strength, something a company would want to emulate. I showed them a few other pictures of Nazi imagery in Korea, of the Hitler bars (here, here, and here), for example, or the Nazi mural I found in Gyeongju. Then I showed them the letters sent to me by Coreana and KORAD. I talked about why I felt the response was unsatisfactory, saying that the two companies were skirting responsibility and shifting blame, and that they were being dismissive by simply changing one word without removing the ad or altering any of the offensive imagery.

I asked if they knew of any other advertisements or commercials that might be considered offensive to some people because my motives are always very transparent. When they said no I put up a few images from a 2004 Korean ad campaign photo shoot that featured a model dressed up like a comfort woman (brought to light by Gusts of Popular Feeling). I showed them a few images and then the dramatic, drawn-out apologies, and I compared and contrasted the responses to the two campaigns. I ended by showing them some of the articles in the Western media, and mentioned that---at that time---the story was not yet in the Korean press.

The teachers did mention that they found the 2004 campaign photos much more offensive than the Coreana one, and I can understand that. They said the issue of comfort women was a sensitive one, and they brought up how Japan never apologized for the war or for conscripting women. I did mention that Japan had apologized, numerous times, but the teachers believed that it was just "lip service."

It's not my place and it's not really an appropriate topic for a low-key teachers' workshop, so I didn't pursue that any further. But it was quite interesting the topic turned to Japan, and a little ironic that we were talking about apologies. We had just seen photos of the actress from the 2004 ad campaign photo shoot prostrating herself before a crowd of jeering comfort women, who had deemed her apologies unsatisfactory. If the local press and public would subject a couple of no-names to such humiliation over the depiction of comfort women, and would (to a laughable degree) deem their whole apology unacceptable, imagine to what lofty standards Koreans must hold the Japanese government. Now, it's their country and they're free to imagine their identity in any way they see fit, but taking liberties with history obviously has implications for the present. Operating from faulty assumptions---that the Japanese are cruel, sneaky, and unapologetic---that are accepted unequivocally without regard to truth or nuance has real consequences in how Koreans view outsiders today. But, that's a post for another day.



None of the teachers there or in my other workshop had ever seen the Coreana commercials before, so if nothing else at least eight people got an introduction to the commercials. A few of my colleagues saw my piece in the KT today and were curious about the advertisement, because they had never seen it and had never seen anything in the news about it. Quite a few teachers in the office watched the commercials for the first time today when I pulled them up off Daum. Admittedly I wasn't that satisfied with how the workshops went, in large part because of the language barrier that makes cross-cultural communication quite difficult---and also because I really hate having to possibly, maybe, sort of, a little, approach matters of Korean history as in that 2004 ad campaign spread---and I didn't feel like I made any impression whatsoever. But I was surprised when a few of the teachers sought the ads out of their own accord today, and when another colleague dug up a Korean-language article on the controversy.

But mostly I think they were amused to see me without my glasses. Sorry ladies, I've had my hair cut since that photo was taken.

(Update: Yeah, this entry comes across weird, too much of the unreliable narrator, but it's already in my feed so there's no sense deleting it. Anyway, just thought I'd share a little about my workshops. Curious to know if anyone else brought it up at school or among friends.)