Biotherm's Live Like a Man Campaign

Because I do not have a television, the amount of commercials I'm bombarded with is less than the average person that has a television and gets his or her daily doze of advertisements. My exposure to TV commercials are limited to the ones I see when I go watch a film at the cinemas and the ones on YouTube that popup every so often, but which I either mute or skip. Because I'm so seldom exposed to commercials I think I have a better sense of which ads work on me -- which ads actually strike a chord in my psyche and really makes me interested in the product.

It is seldom that I feel an advertisement work on me. But every so often there is one. Biotherm's male product range, Biotherm Homme, just launched their new "Live Like a Man"-campaign. In my books it is a winner. I currently have some products that I use on occasion from another cosmetic production line, but I may just experiment with Biotherm Homme products once my current products run out.

Here is the commercial that made me want to switch brands:

Modelling Brothers

This past week both my brother and I found ourselves in front of the cameras.

My brother, posing on the left

He posed for a juice ad. In the photo above his standing in swimming trunks, with juice in hand, funky shades on, showing off his calves. The advert was part of a project made by students at the film school where he studies in Cape Town, South Africa.

A Korean professional taekwondo athlete (left) and
me (right) during a photo shoot. 

My modelling was of quite another kind. On Thursday I partook in an art project that will be part of the permanent collection of the History of the Olympic Games Museum to be launched in London for the 2012 Olympic Games. Read more on my martial art blog: Soo Shim Kwan. 

Adds About Dictators

What's in a Name?

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One of the first Korean friends I made was a student of mine that I taught English at a language institute in 2006. His name, Jun Hyun-Jin. Recently Jun Hyun-Jin suddenly became Jun I-Sum. Why? Well apparently the Korean Sound Wave Name Institute convinced him that his name Jun Hyun-Jin is full of bad luck. If he kept his name, they told him something to the effect that he will suffer from serious ill health later in life, he'll get a terrible wife, have weakly children, and never advance his career. They suggested he change his name to avert these travesties and proposed the name Jun I-Sum, which he did. I don't know how much he paid for their services, but he paid over $1000 to have his name officially changed.

Personally I think it is all hogwash and suspect that it is not much different from numerology or other such superstitions.

Then again, there is much to be said for a name. Would Oprah have been the success she is today were her name Mary-Sue? Would Madonna have been equally iconic if she was known by her middle Louise instead? Or if she hused her family name and was known as Madonna Ciccone?

In the Bible, names often carry meaning, usually describing the character of the person. Bible characters would sometimes undergo a name change. Abram became Abraham. Jacob became Isaac. Simon became Peter. Saul became Paul. The name change often signalled a character change.

I once had a friend who were verbally and physically abused by her father. As an adult she decided that the negative associations with her name--her father always shouting her name--disturbed her, so she took up another name. She wanted a unisex name so we decided on Toni. With her new name, signifying a new start and a strong character, Toni was able to commence her journey of recovery after years of abuse.

Similarly, my younger brother who has a four syllable first name that people always mispronounce decided to shorten his name to a two syllable name. Later still, his friends adopted a one syllable nickname, Nate, which most people now use. While I liked the two syllable name, Nethan, I also like the name Nate. These days I see that he use different versions of his name, the original four syllable one, the two syllable one, and the one syllable one, in different situations, to good effect.

I'm sure that my own name also had an influence on who I am today. My real names are proper English names. However, our nanny gave me a Sesotho / Tswana name, which ended up becoming the name my family used. I grew up with an African name, which always made me stand out within white contexts. I'm sure this must have had an influence on how people treated me, and how I interacted with people. (If you want to know my name, you can see it on my poetry blog: Ingelegde Lywe.) In Korea my name is very similar to a common Korean name 상국, so that Koreans always ask me after I introduced myself to them if it is my Korean name, then I always have to explain to them, no, it is an African name, I am from South Africa. It has become such a trite routine, that I am shocked when it doesn't happen. Since my name sounds Korean I have opted to use 이상구 Lee Sang-Goo as my Korean name.

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While I still think that the Korean Sound Name Wave Institute is a sham, I agree, that there is much to be said for a name.

Holding a woman . . . uhm . . . I mean a bottle

"Black Bean Tera Tea"
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So yesterday I went to the movies to see this movie (오직그대만), and bought myself the tea advertised above. In Korea such cold unsweetened tea-drinks are readily available. In any case, while sitting in the cinema with my tea bottle in hand I suddenly became aware of the feeling of holding a shapely slim woman. That the tactile-sensory message of the bottle could communicate this with such force took me somewhat by surprise as I usually think of marketing in visual rather than kinetic terms. The tea is marketed for (Korean) women wanting to loose weight (it is high in fibre and low in kilojoules). In Korea it seems that there is a whole range of beverages marketed for women, using not only visual cues of shapely ladies, but also tactile cues in the form of shapely bottles. This particular bottle literally feels like a slim shapely woman. Now I don't know if a heterosexual woman holding this bottle in hand will get the same "feeling" as I did. In any case, for more on the topic of bottle shapes in Korean marketing you can read more at  The Grand Narrative.