Bae Yong-joon’s Japanese Ad Campaigns

As some of you may already know, Korean actor Bae Yong-joon is very popular among older Japanese women. Secom Home Security is hoping to capitalize off this popularity in their latest commercial:

In the commercial, Bae Yong-joon declares that he wants to protect you and your family. No doubt this will have an effect on his biggest fans, older housewives, who probably worry about the security of their household quite a bit. I must admit, while I find Bae Yong-joon annoying and the music in this commercial corny and lame, Secom is probably going to make some money out their endorsement deal.

The same cannot be said about Hyundai. The Korean automotive company decided to use Bae Yong-joon as the poster boy of it’s campaign to sell the Hyundai Sonata in Japan (seen pictured above next to the Honda Accord). They had hoped that the star power of the Bae Yong-joon, who is known as “Yon-sama” by his adoring fans, would earn them a place in teh Japanese market. However, it turned out that Yon-sama’s fan base of older housewives were not exactly fans of large cars like the Sonata.

So maybe the Hyundai Sonata is too hard to sell in Japan. What about using Yon-sama to make the Japanese re-examine their positions on Dokdo/Takeshima and history textbooks? This Korea Herald editorial suggests that the “Korean Wave” might be the best weapon in South Korea’s diplomatic arsenal:

Given that these historical and territorial issues are important to the Korean people, there are other more effective ways of handling them. Instead of getting emotional each time a small prefectural government in Japan celebrates Takeshima Day or some local Japanese education authorities want to adopt controversial textbooks wiping out the sections on comfort women, South Korea can take the high road and indirectly address the accuracy of the claims as well as the richness of Korean history.

For example, South Korean academics can continue to publish in Japanese and English accurate accounts of these events. The South Korean government can help fund the research and publication of these materials.

At another indirect but perhaps more effective level, South Korean movie stars and singers can continue to exercise their brilliant creativity and imagination to expand “hallyu,” or the Korean Wave phenomenon, throughout Japan, thereby winning the hearts and minds of the Japanese people. If the Japanese public takes to Korean stars and pop culture, they will become supporters of Korea within Japan. To these pro-Korean forces in Japan, their politicians’ attempts to revise history to discredit Korea and to redraw the boundaries between the two nations will have little effect on their love for Korea.

Similarly, if Chinese people love Rain, the famous Michael Jackson-like Korean actor-singer who has attained semi-deity status in China, Jang Dong-gun, Ahn Jae-wook, Song Hae-kyo, Jang Nara and all other hallyu stars, what does it matter that some Chinese officials are trying to falsify history to claim that Goguryeo was a Chinese kingdom? The Chinese leaders will have no support and interest from their own public who will be busy watching Korean dramas and movies and listening to Korean music.

Hmmm…I’m not too sure about that. Especially since some sources are reporting that the “Korean Wave” is already fading away. I also don’t think that Japanese housewives have much of an interest in textbook reform or territorial disputes. Perhaps it would be a better idea to follow Secom’s lead, and shoot for more realistic goals?