When I first saw this, I was horrified.... but then that's generally par for the course here. A lot of Korean ads look like they would be right at home in a nostalgic ad collection, showing women in pearls and belted dressed hugging their (kimchi) fridges or seeming astounded by the technology behind washers while hubby is off at work.
This ad leaves a bad taste in my mouth for a) the disembodied breasts (Mom doesn't have a face?) b) the BOUNCY disembodied breasts (that are somehow protecting the child from the menacing tidal wave?) ~ what an insult to mothers!!!!!!!!!! and c) comparing a part of a woman's body to a safety feature of a car.
And while we're on safety features... if your child is under the age of 10 or less than 100 pounds, and they are *standing on the floor of the front seat* or *held in their mother's arms in the passenger seat*, the airbag will come out with enough force to severely injure, if not decapitate the child.... no matter what Mom's boobs are doing.
Yeah, my first reaction wasn't to the disembodied breasts (sorry ㅠㅠ), but rather to the fact that a kid that young shouldn't be in the front seat of a car anyway. If a kid's face hits the bag with the same force they're hitting the breasts, the kid's done.
Ms Parker said, "When I first saw this, I was horrified...."
Oh get a grip and grow a sense of humour. You are far to sensitive (or rather insensitive: see below) to unintended meanings if your reactions in the comments above are an accurate reflection of your feelings. My wife and I saw that at the same time for the first time and laughed long and hard at the ad. I thought it was really well done. As my wife says, that is an image of one of the safest places one can imagine; nestled up against mom's boobs.
Granted child safety issues here are horrific and that Brian is correct, an airbag on a child that age/size would probably result in instant death, the ad remains that: something to get your attention and sell a product. To whom was this ad marketed? I am confident it was targeting fathers who would be the ones to purchase cars with such features. Therefore a gratuitous bouncy boob shot is a winning addition to any ad targeting men, especially fathers of young children who are likely getting laid less often as a result.
Disembodied breasts... an insult to mothers... 50s mom astounded by technology... geez louise, take your cultural imperialism bags and leave them at the airport. Here is Korea.
I keep forgetting that Korea *is* locked in the 50s, especially when it comes to women's rights. Oh, gee, there I go... getting all uppity again... I keep forgetting that breasts *should always be used to sell products*. Silly me. And that linking the comfort of a mother's hug to a potentially deadly auto-safety device is A-OK!
I'll just go on and stop worrying my pretty little head about children's safety, the prevalence of sexual harassment and rape here, or the fact that grown, educated, adult Korean women are conditioned to act like 12-year olds because (oh, silly silly me! I keep forgetting!) THAT'S sexy!
Let me know when you're ready to come out of the cave, and we'll be ready to welcome you into the 21st century.
I shall discuss the rationale behind calling it cultural imperialism if you care to discuss it, but I suspect you have more pressing things on your mind, what with the upcoming nuptials. Congratulations by the way :)
I would like to say though, that if you find such things as this ad horrific and par for the course in Korea, then I'm sure you'll have a great time being offended in the Middle East.
After some reflection (mentally and on my blog), I retract the "cultural imperialism" comment as it was an incorrect expression of my feelings. What I meant was cultural prejudice.
I think "take your cultural imperialism bags..." could be better rephrased as "take your women's studies 101 coursebook..."
I mean seriously...first of all, there is no 'comparison' going on here between a car part and female anatomy, but instead what we have is an analogy equating the comfort and security that can be found by a child in his mother's bosom to the same sense that Samsung wants you to find in their car's airbag system.
No part of the ad implied that this airbag will keep young passengers safer or that it is even ok for children to ride in the front seat of a car.
If a child runs to hug his mother and his head impacts her breasts...they're going to bounce...get over it.
Disembodied breasts? Give me a break, in the previous, long shot, the mother is shown running to fetch her son, and while you can't make out her face clearly, it seems pretty evident that she's the one in charge and driving the car in the last shot. This and the tight shot of the boy's face in his mom's awesome boobage all work together to complete the analogy. Mom's face is irrelevant, the look of relief and calm on kiddo's face is pertinent.
The comment about this ad "be[ing] right at home in a nostalgic ad collection" are pretty unfounded in my opinion, and the comments about bad effects of airbags on children, while interesting, don't really have anything to do with analyzing this commercial.
10 comments:
When I first saw this, I was horrified.... but then that's generally par for the course here. A lot of Korean ads look like they would be right at home in a nostalgic ad collection, showing women in pearls and belted dressed hugging their (kimchi) fridges or seeming astounded by the technology behind washers while hubby is off at work.
This ad leaves a bad taste in my mouth for a) the disembodied breasts (Mom doesn't have a face?) b) the BOUNCY disembodied breasts (that are somehow protecting the child from the menacing tidal wave?) ~ what an insult to mothers!!!!!!!!!! and c) comparing a part of a woman's body to a safety feature of a car.
And while we're on safety features... if your child is under the age of 10 or less than 100 pounds, and they are *standing on the floor of the front seat* or *held in their mother's arms in the passenger seat*, the airbag will come out with enough force to severely injure, if not decapitate the child.... no matter what Mom's boobs are doing.
Yeah, my first reaction wasn't to the disembodied breasts (sorry ㅠㅠ), but rather to the fact that a kid that young shouldn't be in the front seat of a car anyway. If a kid's face hits the bag with the same force they're hitting the breasts, the kid's done.
Ms Parker said, "When I first saw this, I was horrified...."
Oh get a grip and grow a sense of humour. You are far to sensitive (or rather insensitive: see below) to unintended meanings if your reactions in the comments above are an accurate reflection of your feelings. My wife and I saw that at the same time for the first time and laughed long and hard at the ad. I thought it was really well done. As my wife says, that is an image of one of the safest places one can imagine; nestled up against mom's boobs.
Granted child safety issues here are horrific and that Brian is correct, an airbag on a child that age/size would probably result in instant death, the ad remains that: something to get your attention and sell a product. To whom was this ad marketed? I am confident it was targeting fathers who would be the ones to purchase cars with such features. Therefore a gratuitous bouncy boob shot is a winning addition to any ad targeting men, especially fathers of young children who are likely getting laid less often as a result.
Disembodied breasts... an insult to mothers... 50s mom astounded by technology... geez louise, take your cultural imperialism bags and leave them at the airport. Here is Korea.
Nothing says comfort like silicon implants.
I keep forgetting that Korea *is* locked in the 50s, especially when it comes to women's rights. Oh, gee, there I go... getting all uppity again... I keep forgetting that breasts *should always be used to sell products*. Silly me. And that linking the comfort of a mother's hug to a potentially deadly auto-safety device is A-OK!
I'll just go on and stop worrying my pretty little head about children's safety, the prevalence of sexual harassment and rape here, or the fact that grown, educated, adult Korean women are conditioned to act like 12-year olds because (oh, silly silly me! I keep forgetting!) THAT'S sexy!
Let me know when you're ready to come out of the cave, and we'll be ready to welcome you into the 21st century.
Sorry... I'm still laughing about the "cultural imperialism" comment....
Ms. Parker, The Grand Narrative has a reply of his own on his site. Go take a look.
I shall discuss the rationale behind calling it cultural imperialism if you care to discuss it, but I suspect you have more pressing things on your mind, what with the upcoming nuptials. Congratulations by the way :)
I would like to say though, that if you find such things as this ad horrific and par for the course in Korea, then I'm sure you'll have a great time being offended in the Middle East.
After some reflection (mentally and on my blog), I retract the "cultural imperialism" comment as it was an incorrect expression of my feelings. What I meant was cultural prejudice.
I think "take your cultural imperialism bags..." could be better rephrased as "take your women's studies 101 coursebook..."
I mean seriously...first of all, there is no 'comparison' going on here between a car part and female anatomy, but instead what we have is an analogy equating the comfort and security that can be found by a child in his mother's bosom to the same sense that Samsung wants you to find in their car's airbag system.
No part of the ad implied that this airbag will keep young passengers safer or that it is even ok for children to ride in the front seat of a car.
If a child runs to hug his mother and his head impacts her breasts...they're going to bounce...get over it.
Disembodied breasts? Give me a break, in the previous, long shot, the mother is shown running to fetch her son, and while you can't make out her face clearly, it seems pretty evident that she's the one in charge and driving the car in the last shot. This and the tight shot of the boy's face in his mom's awesome boobage all work together to complete the analogy. Mom's face is irrelevant, the look of relief and calm on kiddo's face is pertinent.
The comment about this ad "be[ing] right at home in a nostalgic ad collection" are pretty unfounded in my opinion, and the comments about bad effects of airbags on children, while interesting, don't really have anything to do with analyzing this commercial.
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