Seoul Replaces Promotional Poster Due to Misleading Message

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

The silhouette of a woman, who is wearing Korean traditional dress Hanbok, is depicted, overwrapped with major tourist spots in Seoul, Korea. The woman is holding a ribbon on her clothes gently and the message below the picture reads, “Unforgettable Experience in Seoul.”

It was the draft of the tourism promotional poster for Seoul, which was to be 1,000 digital screens and 150 bus stops in New York, including Time Square.

“The promotional poster, which depicts the charm of Seoul, will captivate the hearts of 60 million New York residents,” said Seoul Metropolitan Government on December 1, revealing the poster design. “We’ve chosen the design as hanbok fitting experience is rising popular among foreign tourists,” they added.

However, people criticized the design’s message, which can be misinterpreted as a promotion for sexual commoditization. People on Twitter pointed out that the silhouette, which emphasizes feminine quality, in addition to the written message, makes one to associate the message to sex tourism.

On December 3, the city government announced that they’re replacing the controversial design, saying, “We will replace the debatable design with another one using places like Gwanghwamun Square and DDP as motives.”

The controversial promotional poster design has turned out to be processed without careful deliberation. “Due to tight schedules, we failed to give a specified design guideline to the design agency,” said a city official.

“The image of women is limited to that of the traditional conception,” an anonymous women policy specialist pointed out. “Portraying Seoul’s image as such is problematic.”

People also commented, “It gives an impression that the woman in the poster can untie the ribbon any second,” or, “I think it’s the written message, not the image, that is misleading.”

On the contrary, some argue that taking the poster as a sex tourism promotion is an excessive interpretation. An advertising executive said, “The poster merely seeks the harmony of tradition and modernity.”

“It is hard to make creative and diverse ads when sensitive standards are applied,” he added.

Seoul Metropolitan Government explained that the Seoul tourism promotion in New York is a part of corporative city marketing between Seoul and New York. In exchange for Seoul’s city promotion in New York from December 18 to January 14, 2018, New York’s posters which promote “Famous, Original, New York City,” will be placed across Seoul’s capital city.



I don't see anything wrong with it, I think it's a nice poster.

source: KoreaDailyUS via Joins

Comments

[jaequeeragenda.livejournal.com]

i guess if she had her hands tucked together in front of her and not holding the ribbon, then the caption on the poster wont seem so sexual to the ppl who saw it that way?

i only noticed the ribbon when i read the article lol otherwise it looked fine and i was expecting like...some hidden penis somewhere XD

[haymitch.livejournal.com]

i understand the concern from citizens on the image. tbh any objectification of the female form is strange. i imagine they’re especially weary of the image and the idea of that foreigners sometimes do venture to asian cities with bad intentions.

[theharleyquinn.livejournal.com]

mte and the centrality of images of subservient women in a lot of tourism advertisements deserves more scrutiny

[haymitch.livejournal.com]

yes, especially those that are catered to western tourists. i don't want to imagine the kind of thoughts these seemingly innocent promo images give those who are looking to take advantage of someone who has less power than them.

[kyokomurasaki.livejournal.com]

I always feel really skeeved out by how a lot of tourism ads (especially for Asian countries) feature beautiful women as if that's the country's main selling point. The woman is the largest image on that poster by far; the ad agency is selling her way more than monuments or historical buildings.

There was an ad for Tel Aviv I saw recently that was particularly cringe-inducing because it was like those hand-holding Instagram videos but basically with a model showing the viewer around the city. It was weird.

A lot of airlines put a lot of emphasis on having attractive flight attendants as well which is also gross

[rainstormraider.livejournal.com]

Yeah I can see why it would be criticized.
We already have too many airline commercials that portray subservient women.

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

oh i didnt realise it could be contoversial, i thinks its looks just fine ... but im glad they listen people concern and changed it

[tinzedesu.livejournal.com]

It looks like a movie poster and I like it, but I do see why people are concerned about this.

[mmmalvina.livejournal.com]

it doesn't look any different from other tourist ads, but that's the problem: they all feature beautiful women inviting you with their smile, as if saying that once you go to this place, you'll get to experience some fine local ladies as well. no more!

[nashaa.livejournal.com]

It's the body language imo. If they use the same picture without her hand on her ribbon, it'll communicate a whole different meaning.

[tjmok125.livejournal.com]

Yeah it would be better if she was just looking off into the distance. But I also think there should be twin posters of a man in a scholar hanbok, or even a king, queen, apprentice etc. They can have a traditional poster for every recognized character/person essentially instead of just the one court woman in the hanbok. That way the traditional culture feeling is more appropriate

When you start promoting women in tourist attractions/posters especially to a white western male audience who is notorious for sexualizing Asian women it is problematic so I also see the concern.

[msgrottesca.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I mean honestly, if they had done this poster in some sort of split screen / mirror effect with the woman and a man back to back or something, I don't think anyone would take issue with it. But singling out women + the suggestive hand placement is a bit...

[jasmineakaiumi.livejournal.com]

ia re: having a second poster with a man in traditional clothes would help. i think that duality would make the message not seem as suggestive. the hand on the ribbon isn't helping, though.

[msgrottesca.livejournal.com]

I saw a lot of people complaining about this being "PC culture" or whatever lmao but I think it was a good decision and that we’ve simply become so used to the commodification of women’s bodies, we try to justify it.

Especially with her hand on the tie of her dress, this feels very suggestive, even more so when you consider it wasn’t that long ago that the SK government was exploiting Korean women by offering them up on a platter to male tourists in the 70s (google "gisaeng tours" if you're interested - the exploitation of South Korean women doesn't stop at Japanese imperialism).

Quite frankly, SK’s government has a terrible history of entanglement with sex trafficking, so it’s best to tread lightly. I mean, I would argue it's suspicious already that a country that draws the line at homosexuality has a publicly thriving, unpoliced market of sex trafficking despite it being illegal.

[blck-ink.livejournal.com]

i see it! good to hear that they're taking immediate action!

[daceymormont.livejournal.com]

tbh i thought the placement of her hand was suggestive as well so i'm glad that they changed it

[mjspice.livejournal.com]

Thought it was a poster for a Kdrama lol

But they're right. It does look suggestive with her hand on her ribbon.

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

As others have mentioned the placement of her hand so that it is tugging on her top tie is suggestive as well as the fact that it is a side profile meant to show curves. Honestly using women in general is too much given the history of sex tourism and exploitation in the region. They should highlight the food, tourist attractions, and shopping not the beautiful women.

[juhli.livejournal.com]

the design overlaying the landscape with the hanbok is great visually!

[vikihpnerd.livejournal.com]

I must have a dirty mind cuz I saw the pic before I read the title and I thought, "Dang, this is suggestive." It looks like she's untying her ribbon to take off her clothes.