Week 1 - Jaselle Abuda

Jaselle Abuda

Professor Valverde

ASA 189F

1 October 2017

Week 1: What are the pitfall(s) of National Branding for the country (contemplating) applying it?

National Branding can help a country be known globally through via social media, but it has everlasting side effects that may affect the country itself. Some may argue that National Branding can help a country both economically, but branding a country for the benefit of being known has its setbacks. Being known globally for certain products may give away some uncalled stereotypes that may negatively affect the country. These everlasting stereotypes may place unethical and unreasonable first impressions of the said country, which may then catalyze the stereotypes that were made from National Branding.

            In the video I have shared, it shows various aspects of South Korea that may spike a tourists’ interest into visiting South Korea. The title of the video also supports the question first asked at the beginning of the video. In National Branding, there are certain words and phrases that can be correlated to a branded country, which in this case is South Korea. Such aspects of branding may touch upon music, culture, food, and beautiful sites that is intended for major tourist’s spots. The video connects to the audience by making it social media friendly as to relate to the growing culture of media sharing. Technology contributes the most in National Branding, which then helps the country to be known worldwide. This allows a great access to the very corners of the earth that has access to the internet.

Question: Are there effective ways of moving away from stereotypically branding a nation for the benefit of production mass and being globally known?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83iEKU3MIxY

Week 2 - Naomi Almanzor

Question – Week 2: In your opinion, which factor in the National Aesthetic model (government, people, or industry) has the most influence over South Korea's development and why?

The development and reinforcement of cultural policy throughout all of South Korea’s governments has helped to build its present image. This can be seen through government funding for cultural industries for the sake of encouraging cultural identity as well as its progressive openness towards other countries for cultural exchange, including Japan and North Korea (Yim, 2002). Evidence of South Korea's promotion of cultural exchange and openness to other countries can also be seen through increased accessibility of its music and dramas to international audiences through the addition of English subtitles, concert venues in locations outside of Asia, such as Colombia, Mexico, France, and the U.S., and channels that connect international audiences to issues in South Korea.

I believe the Industry factor has the most influence over South Korea’s development as a global competitor. The rise in international popularity of South Korea's pop culture in such a relatively short period of time can be seen through the statistics given involving the music and film industries of South Korea. From the film industry's rise in export sales from $472,000 to $58 million in 2004, as well as how Korean pop music had 60% of the domestic music market in the late 1990s, it is clear how strongly and how quickly South Korea had managed to develop (Joo). 

I think that South Korea could improve in being a bit more culturally sensitive, and use lesser cultural stereotypes to represent other cultures, as seen through the advertisement shown in class and the usage of blackface in some programs, although in cases such as the latter, an apology is usually issued not too long after.

My Question: Given how disparate the cultures in North and South Korea are, if the current government’s “sunshine policy” and other possible future policies lead to a successful unification of both Koreas, will a fusion of cultures be more beneficial, or a maintenance of this distinction of cultures?

Image : http://roboseyo.blogspot.com/2012/02/blackface-in-korea-again-bubble-sisters.html

Sources:

 Haksoon Yim (2002) Cultural identity and cultural policy in South Korea,

International Journal of Cultural Policy, 8:1, 37-48, DOI: 10.1080/10286630290032422

Joo, J. (n.d.). Transnationalization of Korean Popular Culture and the Rise of "Pop Nationalism" in Korea.

Week 1 - Naomi Almanzor

Question – Week 1: What are the pitfall(s) of National Branding for the country (contemplating) applying it?

Being a country with a wide variety of islands, cultures, and panoramic spots (especially beaches), tourism and cultural promotion has contributed a large part to the current image of the Philippines. Its slogan, “It’s More Fun in the Philippines,” along with the commercials and song (see below) around it, assist in promoting national attractions, festivals, food, and more to international audiences. In addition to these modes of tourist attractors, entertainment in the Philippines works to attract international - more so, English-speaking - audiences through the addition of English subtitles to various programs, programs about tourism and Filipino traditions with English-speaking hosts, as well as programs whose main objective is to teach Tagalog, the main dialect of the country, to English-speaking viewers. 

From what I had seen through my visits and Filipino media, there exists areas of the country devastated by natural disasters and poverty and are more brutally affected by unhealthy environmental conditions than others. While there have been efforts to promote the maintenance of clean rivers and draw attention to these areas through commercials as well, I think that government-funded efforts to assist in sustainability in these areas, such as through the providing supplies for residents in rural areas that farm for a living or the establishment of safer roads or paths for those that travel mainly by foot may be beneficial. 

Because some methods of national branding involve the creation of an image that attracts Western audiences, pitfalls of branding may include the misrepresentation of certain parts of a culture or area that may propagate stereotypes in the minds of visitors to make the country more appealing. After a short discussion with my parents about cultural representation through Filipino media, it does seem that those accounts are fairly legitimate. However, given that none of us have thoroughly experienced living in those areas, I do not want to fully neglect the possibility. Another pitfall may be that efforts to develop rural parts of a country through industrialization may be disagreed upon by residents of that area that have developed a livelihood through agriculture.

My Question: If the cultural approach to National Branding were also discussed in the same way as the political and tech-economical approaches, could it be measurable, and by what means? Would there be too much overlap with the other two categories?

Link to channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_yCORmIAJntXQDSHs4iFcw

Week 1 and 2- Nina Huang

Week 1:
National branding is a symbol on the products that are being advertised and sold to other people. It shows the distinctive characteristics of the country in a positive way. For example, Japan is known for its animation, comic books, games, technology, and food. This is seen in a positive way by many people since many of them are interested in these things and are traveling to Japan for sightseeing and souvenirs. To achieve maximum “national aesthetics,” Japan could make technology like robots for the elderly and people with disabilities who need assistance. This can be helpful for them since Japan has a larger population of elderly people who are living longer. This new way of branding technology can be seen in a positive view that can influence Japan’s development. However, national branding can be seen in a negative way if it does not become popular enough for other countries or has a negative impact on people. This then becomes a pitfall where not many people are buying the country’s product or are hating on the product. For instance, Japanese animation, comic books, and games are popular, but it can make people interact with others less. Even if they interact on social media, they would not interact a lot when it comes to face to face conversations and doing outside activities like playing sports and hanging out with friends. This can negatively affect some things in a person’s life such as friendship, family, and health.

Question: How come cultural approaches is the smallest and most recent group of studies in national branding when culture is a huge part in branding?

Week 2:
In the National Aesthetic model, the industry has the most influence over South Korea’s development because they are things that Korea is most known for in other countries. Things like Korean tv dramas, singing groups, phones, and beauty products are some things that Korea has made itself to the world. For example, the Korean boy band BTS became so popular with their music that they beat many popular American singers, such as Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, and recently won the Billboard Music Award (Liu). This boy band has made itself known to the world that even if someone does not know much about Korea, they would have at least heard of this group. The popularity from these boy bands and other singing groups, tv dramas, phone products, and skin care products makes the industry continue to produce more for the audience, so that the audience would continue to want more and make them want to go to Korea. To achieve maximum “national aesthetics,” Korea should produce tv dramas that have more unique stories where the ending is not so predictable for the viewers. They should also have more fashionable clothes that people from other countries would want to wear so that more buyers and they could dress like their favorite tv actors and singing groups.

Question: Why do many countries use the US as a model when the US isn’t a really good model to mimic from?

Works Cited

https://0.soompi.io/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/21152241/bts-bbmas.jpg

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/18j3vbb2sphq2jpg.jpg

Liu, Marian. “Bigger than Bieber? K-pop group BTS beats US starts to win Billboard Music Award.” CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/22/entertainment/k-pop-bts-billboard-music-awards/index.html. Accessed 1 October 2017

Week 2 - Riley Frederking

In the1950’s, following the Korean War, found itself in finical crisis and was one of the poorest countries in the world. Yet, South Korea is currently in the throngs of a cultural phenomenon popularly coined the “Korean Wave” that reaches far beyond their borders. South Korea is now an epicenter for fashion, music, food, entertainment, and technology. This incredible transformation, is in my opinion, due largely to the South Korean Government, and their ability to see the importance of developing cultural policy and identity. Starting in the 60’s South Korea focused their efforts on “economic growth and cultural development” which laid foundations for such successful brands as LG and Samsung (Tran). This trend continued with “a period of major growth in the role of the state in providing support for the arts” (Yim 40) which lead to “the coming of age of Korean popular culture” in the late 1990s (Joo 490). The South Korean government is currently “one of the only countries in the world that has a Ministry of Culture” and places great emphasis on being the lead exporter of popular culture by earmarking “20-30% of a 1-billion-dollar fund to nurture and export popular culture” (“Korean Wave”). Even in my small isolated home town the local dance studios now offer K-Pop classes that feature dance moves and music from South Korean popular culture. In order to increase their “national aesthetics” status, South Korea could expand their grape production and develop a market of red wine promoted by some of their many superstars. Why not, it does seem there isn’t much that South Korea can’t do these days.

Question: Why is South Korea one of the only countries with a Ministry of Culture? Why haven't other countries placed as much focus governmental emphasize on culture?

Joo, Jeongsuk. “Transnationalization of Korean Popular Culture and the Rise of “Pop Nationalism” in Korea.” The Journal of Popular Culture. Vol. 44, No. 3, 2011.

“Korean Wave (Hallyu) - Rise of Korea's Cultural Economy & Pop Culture.” Martin Roll, 12 Aug. 2017. 1 Oct. 2017.

Noland, Marcus. “Six Markets to Watch: South Korea.” Foreign Affairs, 15 Sept. 2015. Web. 1 Oct. 2017.

Tran, Mark. “South Korea: a Model of Development? | Mark Tran.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 28 Nov. 2011. Web. 1 Oct. 2017.

Yim, Haksoon. “Cultural Identity and Cultural Policy in South Korea.” International Journal of Cultural Policy. Vol. 8, 2002. pp. 37-48.  

Yonhap. “Korean Wave Exports Boom.” Inside Retail Asia, 29 Aug. 2016. 1 Oct. 2017.