The Hitler Walker.

From 오가게.

Home Plus has a decent selection of big-size shoes for western feet, but if you're looking for something a little more trendy for the Slow Walking Festival, consider the Hitler Walker (히틀러워커).



A variety of colors, materials, and styles for about 40,000 won. A lesser blogger would have titled this post "These boots are made for goose-steppin'."

A new entry for the "Nazis in Korea" category.

Looks like a guy dressed up as a Nazi officer for a Cosplay event in Seoul over the weekend, and raised some interesting questions for the photographer. I realize that people who dress like this in Korea probably don't hate the Jews, and probably just think the Nazis were good dressers, or that Hitler had a funny moustache, or something. So though they're probably not anti-Semetic, they are exceedingly stupid, and need to be called on it.

Browse the "Nazis in Korea" category---yes I have a category on it---for more on Nazi bars, Nazi commercials, and a Nazi mural in downtown Gyeongju.



And in case you're wondering how well a photoshoot with a comfort woman theme would go over in Korea, Gusts of Popular Feeling has your answer. If you thought "well enough for people to dress like a comfort woman in subsequent cosplay shows," try again.

Mokpo's Rommel Hof.

Back in February Kim Ja-young wrote to the Korea Times about a familiar topic here.

While listening to his experiences in Korea I felt embarrassed when he talked about seeing a jazz bar in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, which painted on its exterior wall a portrait of an infamous Nazi SS officer standing on a tank. Really? Could there actually be a Nazi bar in Mokpo?

Yes, yes there could, and you can add Mokpo's Rommel Hof (롬멜), also advertised as a jazz bar, to the list of Nazi-themed establishments in Korea. It's named after the Nazi Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and is located just down the street from the E-Mart in Okam-dong.




Kim gets points for recognizing that it's wrong to use Nazi paraphernelia as decoration and for dropping my name, though she loses points for this line:

Surely, most Koreans have sympathy for Jewish people because we suffered similar cruelties by the Japanese invasion and subsequent occupation.

No, the Holocaust really isn't comparable to the Japanese occupation of Korea. Japan did some bad things to Korea, but this need to cast Korea's suffering into something it's not really just seems masochistic. It's an attempt to connect Korea's situation to something that has global resonance, and in this light it's not that different from these ridiculous comparisons I like to collect.

You'll read Koreans bringing up the Jews from time to time, sometimes to make comparisons like those above, or to appreciate-slash-envy a relatively small ethnic group that has come to be so, um, influential in the US. But for a people who put a lot of stock in pure-blood ideology and protecting the quote-unquote purity of the people, who take a deep interest in things like eugenics and blood-type, who love grandiose displays of nationalism, who have displayed a fondness for authoritarian leadership, and who approach territorial disputes with enthusiasm, perhaps they should think more carefully how they're imagining themselves vis-a-vis the Nazis and the Jews. Indeed, sometimes what begins as commisseration turns into anti-Semitism, as in the case of best-selling comic book on the history and culture of the US:

It's impossible to know which of the two races is the most "severe" (or harsh or sharp, "어쩌 보면 두 민족은 전세계에서 가장 '지독한' 민족일지도 몰라")
We Koreans, who are hard-working and diligent and are sad to come in second, can amass great victories in America with our competitive spirit. But in the end each and every time we hit a barrier, and that barrier is the Jews.
p221)
We Koreans, who don't know how to lose to any other race . . .
This is not only true of Koreans: Every other race and ethnicity has this in common.
Cartoon Jew: "So many people hate us, but no one can mess with us."
Jews make up slightly more than 2% of the American population. They control American finance and naturally the American economy controls the world economy. They twist the media to their own ends and control the world of politics. They pilot the U.S. government from behind the scenes and they even have world politics wrapped around their finger (좌지우지). They have a monopoly on Hollywood and paint a picture of the Jewish people as virtuous victims. They play the part of herald for the message that the Arabs and Muslims that they oppose are a barbarous and violent mass.
In a word, the whites at the heart of America are called WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants). . .
". . .but the real group that controls America through money and media pressure is the Jews."

So if you don't understand the Jews, you'll never understand America.

The book, which many of our school libraries carry and many of our students and teachers have read, was ignorant enough to warrant condemnation from the US government. Stuff like that and the other news in my "Nazis in Korea" category have led me to believe the Nazis, the Holocaust, and Jews are topics Koreans should just give a wide berth.

I had to pluck the Jew out of the Garden of Eden.

On Dave's they're talking about some weird riddles they have to do in school. They've become a de facto standard in competitions around the country because Korean teachers just copy them rather than attempt to make their own. Number fifty-seven:

57
1. I don't understand why do people call me another Satan.
2. I tried to build the Garden of Eden on the earth.
3. I had to pluck the weed out of the garden.
4. The Jew was the weed.
5. I sent millions of Jew to the gas rooms.

Kim Ja-young's apology for (Korean) Nazism.

Interesting opinion piece in the Korea Times earlier in the week about one woman's reaction to South Korea's use of Nazi imagery in bars, restaurants, and commercials. Here's a bit of the article:

Recently I began a friendship with a Jewish man. He is the first Jewish person I have met in my life. We talked about Korea and some other countries where he has lived or traveled.

While listening to his experiences in Korea I felt embarrassed when he talked about seeing a jazz bar in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, which painted on its exterior wall a portrait of an infamous Nazi SS officer standing on a tank. Really? Could there actually be a Nazi bar in Mokpo?

This reminded me of Brian Deutsch's article, ``Insensitivity About Nazism," which appeared in the April 22, 2008, edition of The Korea Times in which he discussed a Nazi-themed cosmetics ad campaign in which a well-known Korean actress appeared dressed as a Nazi officer, holding a cap emblazoned with a Nazi style logo.

I recall seeing this ad on Youtube. In the background were the sounds of shell-firing rounds, the German language and the text ``Even Hitler could not get East and West at the same time." This Nazi-themed ad was hardly an issue in Korean society and was largely ignored by the Korean media.

Frankly, when I watched this ad with my friend, we just laughed. Even though the commercial showed Nazi propaganda or made mention of Adolph Hitler, I don't think it bothered most Korean people's conscience, including mine. Surely, most Koreans have sympathy for Jewish people because we suffered similar cruelties by the Japanese invasion and subsequent occupation. I believe that when pressed, most Koreans would express having bad or negative feelings about Hitler or Nazism or fascism in general. However, the problem is that we don't appear to have much interest in people's business or problems other than our own.

I recall that my friend and I talked about what it would have been like if the actress in the above-mentioned ad had dressed in a colonial Japanese military style and the sentence was ``Even Ito Hirobumi, who was the biggest culprit behind the Japanese colonization of Korea, could not get all of Asia." At the very least, the following day the cosmetic company headquarters would have been egg-bombed by protesters, I reckon.

It is interesting that a Nazi-themed advertisement was not controversial until it stirred up discontent by expatriates living in Korea. It is surprising and shameful that after being chastised in the international news, neither the Korean cosmetics company nor the ad agency apologized and excused their actions stating they just wanted to highlight the ``revolutionary" aspects of Hitler.

The coverage from last spring is spread out on this blog over a few different posts, though they're a little awkward to read because of so many updates and amendments. The two most relevant I guess are

* "Coreana wants the ads removed from Youtube."

* "New Coreana Nazi video pretty much the same as the old Coreana Nazi video."

so give them a read if you're not familiar with the story.



Ms. Kim closes her piece with:

As a Korean and friend of a Jewish person and member of this global village, I want to apologize about the Nazi-themed cosmetics advertisement and bars that feature Nazi imagery here in Korea. I hope my apology will be considered acceptable.

There is no need for her to apologize to anyone, though it's a thoughtful gesture in a thoughtful article. Now, let's keep in mind that we oughtn't push our Western perceptions and meanings on Koreans who most likely don't hold the same values. After all, to cite a more trivial example, how sick are we of hearing about Dokdo, a territorial dispute that is of utmost importance to Koreans but meaningless and borderline offensive to Westerners? In fact, I resent being told how to call the Sea of Japan in my own language, and dislike having our language and politics dictated to us on the Liancourt Rocks matter by ethnocentric foreign special interest groups.

Obviously Koreans generally don't have such a strong reaction to Nazism and its symbols as Westerners, just as many of us harbor no animosity against the Japanese. Yet the point of the campaign last spring to remove the ads and get a satisfactory apology, and of smaller rants in protest of the bastardization of our language and culture, is to remind people that while each culture interprets things for itself, symbols oughtn't be entirely divorced from their historical context. That's why we were upset by the flippant use of Nazi imagery in the commercials, and that's why we cringe when we hear Koreans saying "oh my god!" or "sexy" all the time. It's arrogant to dictate only one possible meaning for a symbol or phrase, but it's equally so to adopt them with no regard for their preexisting meanings to other people.

Who the fuck is doing the cartoons over there?

Yeah, okay, the guy was extreme, but on what planet is this Korea Times cartoon titled "Austria's Far-Right Leader Joerg Haider Died at Car Crash" appropriate?



As the title indicates the Austrian politician died in a car crash, on October 11th. More on him from Wikipedia.

Quite the arresting magazine cover you've got there.

The latest issue of 한겨레21, with President Lee Myung-bak. They're apparently picking up the theme from last week, when the 한겨레 (Hankyoreh)'s newspaper ran a cartoon with Lee Myung-bak as Hitler overseeing a concentration camp.

As good a day as any for a Hitler political cartoon.

Three guesses which paper ran it.

“None of you move!!” yells President Lee Myung-bak.

In his concentration camp he has the KBS president, the MBC program “The Producer’s Notebook,” Koreans who are charged with encouraging a boycott of companies that advertise with the big three conservative newspapers, “candlelight” protesters, and now, Korean athletes in Beijing.

“I’m not part of the ‘critical elements,’” says this Olympic medalist. Members of the Korean Olympic Team who have completed their events are being kept from returning to Seoul so that they can all return together. It is widely believed that the governemt is supporting the event to create favorable conditions for itself.

Regarding the last part about the Olympics, that same newspaper has a write-up about that situation. I consider myself pretty proficient in English, but I can't make heads or tails of it. Do they want the fucking parade or not? And how is getting a parade of athletes together "going back to the era of authoritarian rule"? Seems to me it would be popular with athletes and with pretty much every Korean. According to the article some people would rather the Korean Olympic Committee invest the money into less-popular sports like handball.

Comments left by some say they wonder what the athletes in less popular events, who did not get medals but are worthy of applause, would think.

No doubt, though, that after the national wave of outrage due up after the Korean women's handball team lost tonight to Norway on a controversial last-second call, they'll be welcomed back as heroes and as tragic symbols of how the world is always out to screw Koreans.

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.)

Breaking News: Holy shit, Korea's English-language media actually writes something about Coreana ads.

I'm going to do another update on these ads, and how they went over in my teachers' workshops, today or tomorrow. But first I just wanted to pass this article from the Dong-a Ilbo along. A couple of days ago I saw somebody from the Dong-a Ilbo was on my site for a couple of hours so I figured something was up. Read the whole thing, it's short, but here's an excerpt:

The company had shot a commercial for a new product starring Korean celebrity Park Jin-hee. In one scene, Park showed up in a Nazi uniform with shell-firing sounds heard in the background. Behind her was the sentence, “Even Hitler could not get East and West at the same time.”

A Coreana source said, “Our new product has two main functions: moisturizing and curing. We just wanted to highlight this, and thus centered the ad on the concept of conquest and Hitler.”

After an internal review, however, the company pulled the word “Hitler” from the commercial and replaced it with “anybody.”

Well, I don't understand why they're still insisting that the ad was pulled after an internal review, or was voluntarily censored back in February (as was claimed in the AP article), but whatever. It's quite clear that nobody around here has a fucking clue why Nazis in a make-up commercial would be inappropriate. Just cutting out the word "Hitler" while leaving the unmistakably Nazi imagery does nothing to reduce the ad's offensiveness. In fact, it kinda makes it worse, and the ad should have just been pulled all together. But, like I said, I'm getting kind of sick about talking to myself about this. Obviously overseas protests won't do anything, since organizations like the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Associated Press have no teeth over here. The "fixed" ad still runs regularly on OnStyle, the smug grin on Park Jin-hee as infurating as ever.

Whatever. Like I said I'll do one more write-up in a day or two, to talk about my two teachers' workshops, then I think I'm done with the topic. The idiocy around here can be staggering.

Coreana Nazi commercials pulled off youtube.

Looks like the Coreana Nazi commercials were pulled off Youtube this morning, not by me. I'm sure Korad and/or Coreana asked Youtube to take them down, after I ignored their letters. Other, Jew-friendly Coreana ads have not been taken off Youtube, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time. *cough* Anyway, they had generated roughly 9,000 combined hits, so it was clear that enough people saw them. You can still view them here and here via the original Naver blog, and I also saw them up on Daum. Naver took them down this afternoon, but they're still on Daum here and here. I have them saved on my computer, and I may repost them to Youtube, I dunno, seems like they'd just get pulled right back down. If anybody wants copies, please let me know and I'll pass them along.

* Edit: Go here and read the excellent summary of what happened a few years ago when a Korean company did an ad campaign a photo shoot with an actress made up to be a comfort woman. The difference in apologies then and now. Actually, there really wasn't an apology in this case. A few years ago, though, the series of apologies involved burning prints, shaving heads, and groveling on the floor in front of former comfort women and the media.

New Coreana Nazi video pretty much the same as the old Coreana Nazi video.

Just saw the revised, Jew-friendly Coreana ad on OnStyle, and they did change the "Hitler couldn't even hold east and west" (roughly) to "Nobody could hold east and west." After getting their name dragged through the mud by CNN, ABC, USA Today, the Associated Press, and every other paper and blog that picked up the story . . . THAT'S how Coreana responds? By changing one word? How on earth can that be considered even remotely appropriate? After writing me to take down the youtube videos, and issuing a mess of excuses to the Associate Press, it's quite clear that they JUST . . . DON'T . . . GET IT and, as expected, have no idea whatsoever what all the fuss is about. As if that weren't apparent from the decision to shoot those ads in the first place. Here's how Seo Sang-hee, a representative from the ad agency who did the commercial and a woman who messaged me earlier, responded to criticism of the initial ads:

A Korad official, Seo Sang-hee, confirmed the ad was meant to invoke a Nazi soldier and Hitler, which she said symbolize "revolution" in keeping with the lotion's "revolutionary" dual functions.

Seo said the commercial was not designed to promote Hitler, but rather the idea that the cosmetics will succeed in both East and West, which Hitler failed to do.

And here's what I don't get. From the same CNN article:

However, company spokesman Kim Yoon-oh said the slogan has already changed to: "No one has ever had the East and West." The phrase was meant to boast of the product's dual moisturizing and calming effects.

The company said it had not received the Wiesenthal Center complaint, but Kim said concerns of potential controversy prompted the slogan change before the ad began airing in February.

The commercial still features the same militaristic imagery, but Kim said Coreana was not aware of the Nazi-style logo on the model's cap. He said the costume was selected by a stylist affiliated with Korad, a Seoul-based firm that produced the commercial.

The ad was clearly not altered back in February, and the use of "Hitler" is only part of the problem. The uniform, the background noise, the German language, and the, um, bombing campaign are all in extremely poor taste, and make the setting almost instantly recognizable as Nazi Germany. As to whether the company received the Simon Weisenthal Center complaint, who knows. Somebody obviously tipped them off to the videos on youtube---though I wonder if Coreana has moved to take them off Naver and Daum---so somebody obviously must have been aware of the media hoopla, and somebody must have been saavy enough to navigate English-language websites. Coreana does have an English-language portion on its site, but I have to wonder if they were even capable of interpreting the Simon Weisenthal Center complaint letter. And if they did understand the words, would such a motion even translate culturally to compel them to drop an ad campaign? A single letter doesn't seem very persuasive, and as I said before, as a primarily domestic company, they are fairly insulated against a little bad press overseas. A letter from an unknown foreign entity probably carried as much weight to Korad and Coreana as their Korean-language letters did to me.

And here's another thing. If you watch the "making" video for another Coreana commercial featuring actress Park Jin-hee and the 녹두 line of cosmetics, you'll see a white woman in some position of authority, and you'd wonder who was behind the cameras for these latest ads.

Well, whatever, fuck 'em. Spread the word to whomever you were complaining to before, and let them know that nothing has really changed. Get the Simon Wiesenthal Center back on the phone. If anybody finds a new version of the commercial on Naver, please put it on youtube and pass it around.

You can tell that I'm still pretty much bed-ridden because I have time enough to stare at Park Jin-hee write so much these days.

Coreana wants the ads removed from Youtube.

Got back from work yesterday to find a couple of messages to my youtube account, regarding the two Nazi-themed cosmetic commercials. I wasn't sure what they were, although they did seem rather formal-sounding. A couple of posters on Dave's gave them a read through and told me that the gist of the messages were that in response to the Simon Wiesenthal Center protest and the media coverage, the ad will be changed from "Hitler couldn't hold east and west" to "Nobody could hold east and west." Thus, they would like the old advertisements taken down.

One of the messages was from Seo Sang-hee, a Korad representative who appeared in the CNN.com article that ran on this topic. An excerpt:

A Korad official, Seo Sang-hee, confirmed the ad was meant to invoke a Nazi soldier and Hitler, which she said symbolize "revolution" in keeping with the lotion's "revolutionary" dual functions.

Seo said the commercial was not designed to promote Hitler, but rather the idea that the cosmetics will succeed in both East and West, which Hitler failed to do.

Are you kidding me? Why not just use Rain? *cough* Anyway, here are the two messages I received. They are in Korean, so they're off limits to a lot of us. They refer to "Solitary" or "SolitaryThrush," the name I used on youtube (from Whitman). I've taken out cell phone numbers, but that's it. Editorializing to follow.

From Seo Sang-hee:

안녕하세요,
Solitary님께서 올리신 동영상 <코리아나 화장품 -- 녹두 28앰플> 광고를 대행하고 있는 광고대행사 KORAD에서 본 동영상과 관련하여 Solitary님께 아래와 같이 협조를 의뢰 드리고자 합니다.

Solitary님께서 올리신 동영상 <코리아나 화장품 -- 녹두 28앰플> 광고 파일과 관련하여
해당 기업인 코리아나 화장품의 기업 이미지에 부정적인 영향을 미칠 수 있는 소지가 있음을 알려드립니다.
먼저, Solitary님께서 올리신 광고는 현재 방영되고 있는 광고물 제작 이전에 만들어진 제작물입니다. 방송 광고로 온 에어 하기에는 부적합한 부분이 있어 사전에 이를 수정한 광고물로 현재 방송되고 있음에도 불구하고 현재 온라인 상에서 유포되어 있는 해당 동영상으로 인해 현재 광고주가 곤란한 상황이 발생하였습니다. 구체적으로, 이스라엘 대사관으로부터 '독일군의 유태인 학살'과 관련된 부정적 이미지의 역사적 인물을 광고에서 표현 대상물로 활용함으로써 유태계 국민들의 정서에 부정적 영향을 미치는 결과를 초래하였다는 항의를 받고 있습니다.
이는 광고의 본 제작 의도와는 전혀 다른 방향으로 광고를 해석하는데 따른 결과이며, 이로 인하여 특정 기업(코리아나 화장품)의 이미지에 매우 부정적으로 작용할 수 없음을 알려드리는 바입니다.
Solitary님의 의도와는 무관하여 올리신 동영상으로 인하여 발생되는 이와 같은 문제가 확대되지 않도록 혜량하여 주실 것을 부탁드립니다.
더불어 이와 관련하여 자세한 사항에 대해서는 아래 연락처로 문의하여 주시기 바랍니다.

문의) KORAD 서상희 부장

And from one of the folks in charge of the ad campaign:

안녕하세요?
저는 코리아나화장품의 '녹두28앰플'광고를 대행하고 있는
광고대행사 코래드의 원현정입니다.
죄송한 말씀입니다만
SolitaryThrush님께서 4월3일 올려주신 코리아나 화장품의
'녹두28앰플' TV CF와 관련하여 삭제를 요청드립니다.
카피 내용중 부적절한 문구가 있어
현재 수정된 카피로 CATV에서 방영중에 있습니다.

문제가 된 카피는 '히틀러도 동과서를 다 갖지는 못했다'로
현재는'그 누구도 동과서를 다 갖지는 못했다'로
변경되었습니다.
이와 관련, 유태계 관련 단체로 부터 항의가 접수 된바
신속히 해당 동영상을 삭제하여 주실것을 부탁드리오니
협조하여 주시기 바랍니다.

문의)
코래드 캠10팀
[number deleted]
원현정

I've decided to post them because I find them timely and newsworthy, and because I find some disconnect between the uproar and the response. The "uproar" isn't happening in Korea among Koreans, or even in Asia, but rather among a small minority of foreigners here, a special interest group, and overseas media outlets. Haven't seen any mention yet in the media over here. I suspect that most Koreans would find nothing wrong with the ad at all, and simply rewording the text, which is splashed over a woman clearly made up to resemble a Nazi officer, is not a satisfactory response in the least. Moreover, has there been any response made in English---to reach a global audience---aside from the translation provided in the CNN article?

I don't recall much change happening after the protests of the Nazi bars and the bestselling comic book "Far Countries, Near Countries." Nazi bars are still around, and the comic books are still in circulation and as popular as ever. And those are bigger and more flagrant displays of National Socialism and anti-Semitism than these 30-second ads. All the while, Koreans criticize textbooks sympathetic to Japanese occupation, or become furious whenever a Japanese politician visits the Yazakuni Shrine, or get involved in massive campaigns to alter maps or "correct" history. Not to belittle those first two issues---I totally belittle the third---but how about a little perspective, and a little awareness that the man who failed in the cosmetics business is the same one who was allied to those cursed Japanese. But in all seriousness, the lack of perspective and the extreme lack of sensitivity to world history is staggering. I wish I could say this was an isolated bout of ignorance, but as we've seen, this is something that comes up again and again and again. Whether it is anti-Semetic and racist comic books (here and here), or likening the burning of a national treasure to the September 11th attacks, or running a humorous advertisement with bin Laden's likeness shortly after 9/11/01, or the use of blackface to emphasize the ugliness of a singing group, or the relentless scapegoating of foreign English teachers, or more "run of the mill" racist jabs found in the newspapers with regularity (like this or this or this), the negative views held by some Koreans toward foreigners and foreign cultures is something that needs to be examined in earnest.

But, I'd be very surprised if anything comes of this. Coreana serves domestic customers primarily, just like the Hitler bars and those comic books, so worldwide outrage will have little effect on the company itself, but would rather sully (perhaps) the image of the country that produces and condones such material. Moreover, nothing usually happens when foreigners---who "don't understand Korean culture" anyway---have anything negative to say about Korea. All the more bizarre an attitude considering how hypersensitive South Korea is to its image overseas. These types of headlines aren't good for anybody over here . . . I just wish Koreans didn't have to be guilted into being more historically or globally aware, or always had to be explicitly told that things like the Holocaust and slavery were terrible things and are kinda sensitive issues for a lot of people, or that things like nigger, black face, or the stereotype of the powerful, omnipotent Jew aren't things you really should be playing around with.

Anyway, the ads will stay up until somebody takes them down.

Nazis and cosmetics go well together.

Ads pulled off youtube on April 7, but you can still find them here and here here and here.

Scroll down for updates (latest April 23, 8:00 pm).

Found a couple of commercials for Coreana, a cosmetics company over here. According to some of the scholars on Dave's ESL Cafe, the text in the commercials says something about Hitler's inability to fight a war on both fronts, and relates that to the make-up's strength. Okay, there are no blood flags flying, but nevertheless I'm not sure why Nazi imagery and Hitler references are considered appropriate in 21st-century Korea. Anyway, I finally figured out how to capture and embed them, (update: but they got pulled).

You can watch them where I found them, here and here. They got pulled from Naver on the afternoon of April 7, but for the time being they're available on Daum here and here. And if that doesn't work, you can find them by navering 코리아나히틀러, which is how they're labeled on the Naver blogs I found.

And, welcome visitors from Planet Dave's. You might also be interested in the Nazi mural I found in downtown Gyeongju.

* Update 1: One Free Korea has an excerpt of a letter from the Simon Wissenthal Center to Coreana. I don't recall previous campaigns against Hitler Bars or anti-Semetic comic books having any impact, so we'll see if anything comes of this. Hitler Bars or best-selling comic books were much more prominent targets, and have survived in spite of a little negative publicity in the English-language world, whereas I've never even seen these month-old commercials run on TV, and am not sure a company like Coreana will feel any pinch from Western protests. All about raising awareness, though, and collecting evidence on Korea's bizarre race ideology, which was the whole point of this post anyway.

I'm sure this will all be explained away with a half-hearted apology, and no action will come of it. If the ad executives even understand why what they did was wrong, I'd be very surprised. This is a part of the world very ignorant of world history, and a part of the world that likes Nazis for, among other reasons, their sense of style.

* Update 2: In the German news now, on Netzeitung.de. An excerpt from an article on the protest by the Simon Wiesenthal Center:

Zudem habe man deutlich machen wollen, dass die Creme sowohl im Osten als auch im Westen Erfolg haben werde — was Hitler nicht geschafft habe.

There's also mention on the Simon Wiesenthal Center site here.

* Update 3 (April 4, 22:24): On the front page of CNN.com.

* Update 4 (April 5, 14:30): Coreana wants the ads taken down because they have decided to change the wording from "Hitler . . . " to "Nobody . . . "

* Update 5 (April 5, 19:15): In Belgium.

* Update 6 (April 6, 18:30): Still no mention in the Korean press yet. Not surprising.

Unrelated, but I came across an interesting write-up of one of the Nazi bars from six years ago. An excerpt:

The symbols outside bothered me, though. In a city where businesses adopt seemingly random English words for their businesses (such as CIA bar, CNN bar or Goopy Fried Chicken restaurant) was it inevitable and harmless that a Hitler bar should appear?

I asked my advanced English students what they thought. Many seemed surprised I even thought the bar worth discussing. Its name wasn't for lack of knowledge: according to my student Mey Shin, Koreans were aware that Hitler and his Nazi followers had killed millions of people, Jews in particular. Many Koreans also have seen big Hollywood movies like Schindler's List that might familiarize them with Hitler and his cronies.

An older businessman named Mr. Park, who was registered in my class, explained it to me: Hitler has about as much relevance to modern-day Koreans as the Mongolian warlord Ghengis Khan, or even one of the more recent Korean dictators (Gen. Kim Young Sam has a bar dedicated to him in the same Pusan downtown neighborhood, I later discovered). The images are intended simply as a unique and innovative, if offensive to some, method of attracting customers. In short, there's no such thing as bad publicity.

This conclusion struck me as odd, since many Koreans are still very bitter about their own disastrous colonization experience at the hands of the Japanese Empire from the 1920s to the mid-1940s. The Japanese occupiers attempted to assimilate the Koreans into the empire, used conscripted Korean labor on a mass scale, tortured nationalist leaders, bloodily put down insurrections and turned thousands of Korean women into sex slaves. Some of my students seethed when I mentioned Japan even in passing. At the time the Hitler bar opened, Korean president Kim Dae Jung was leading his country in denunciations of revisionist Japanese history textbooks.

Therefore, the complacency of my students toward the Hitler bar was strange. A suggestion by me that one of them might open an Emperor Hirohito bar was seen as beyond the pale by all of them, who almost universally claimed that there was not a direct parallel.

No direct parallel betweeen Hirohito and Hitler. Shouldn't surprise me that such an opinion is held. I'll find out for myself at the next teachers' workshops. Where's the rolly-eye smiley?

* Update 7 (April 7, 18:00): Ads were pulled from Youtube and Naver today. They're still available on Daum for the time being, and other foreigners in Korea are working on getting them on other sites.

Anyway, please go here and read the excellent summary of what happened a few years ago when a Korean company did an ad campaign with an actress made up to be a comfort woman. The difference in apologies then and now. Actually, there really wasn't an apology in this case. A few years ago, though, the series of apologies involved burning prints, shaving heads, and groveling on the floor in front of former comfort women and the media.

* Update 8 (April 23, 20:00): The Simon Wiesenthal Center said last week that they were "gratified" by Coreana's response in pulling the ads. For those who hadn't seen it, here's an image from the revised commercial that had run for a couple of weeks. Everything was the same, but "Hitler" was replaced with "Nobody":

Nazi mural in Gyeongju.

Came across this mural in downtown Gwangju Gyeongju (sorry) the other day. It's located about two blocks from 대릉원, one of the tomb parks, and is painted on the side of a store. It's on 북정로, between 태종로 and 화랑로, the two mainstreets in town, and borders on that downtown pedestrian-only shopping district.








Painted on the side of this store.


The "staff" is partially obscured.

I thought this post was going to be groundbreaking, but it looks like other people noticed it first (here and here), and apparently it's been around for a while.

My dad told me that when he was a kid there was a guy who lived across the street who used to hang a Nazi flag in his basement. He seemed a little crazy. But in that guy's defense he was from Austria and actually was a Nazi. So while he was hateful at least he wasn't ignorant. That was sarcasm.

I'm all for freedom of expression and all that. I'm just curious what view these Koreans are expressing with this mural. Do they respect Hitler for being a strong leader who pulled his people his country Germany out of a recession? Do they respect the Nazis and their influences for their authority based on blood purity? Do they just think the colors look cool and that Nazis are well-dressed? Do they like the Germans for being allied with Imperial Japan, the nation that conquer most of Asia, including South Korea? Oh, shit, wait . . .