Flower of capitalism : South Korean advertising at a crossroads / Olga Fedorenko.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fedorenko, Olga, Author.

Series:

Hawaiʻi studies on Korea

Hawai'i Studies on Korea

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Advertising--Korea (South).

Advertising.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (272 p.) : 7 b&w illustrations

Edition:

1st edition.

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, [2022]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

An ethnography of advertising in postmillennial South Korea, Flower of Capitalism: South Korean Advertising at a Crossroads details contests over advertising freedoms and obligations among divergent vested interests while positing far-reaching questions about the social contract that governs advertising in late-capitalist societies. The term “flower of capitalism” is a clichéd metaphor for advertising in South Korea, bringing resolutely positive connotations, which downplay the commercial purposes of advertising and give prominence to its potential for public service. Historically, South Korean advertising was tasked to promote virtue with its messages, while allocation of advertising expenditures among the mass media was monitored and regulated to curb advertisers’ influence in the name of public interest. Though this ideal was often sacrificed to situational considerations, South Korean advertising had been remarkably accountable to public scrutiny and popular demands. This beneficent role of advertising, however, came under attack as a neoliberal hegemony consolidated in South Korea in the twenty-first century. Flower of Capitalism examines the clash of advertising's old obligations and new freedoms, as it was navigated by advertising practitioners, censors, audiences, and activists. It weaves together a rich multi-sited ethnography—at an advertising agency and at an advertising censorship board—with an in-depth exploration of advertising-related controversies—from provocative advertising campaigns to advertising boycotts. Advertising emerges as a contested social institution whose connections to business, mass media, and government are continuously tested and revised. Olga Fedorenko challenges the mainstream notions of advertising, which universalize the ways it developed in Transatlantic countries, and offers a glimpse of what advertising could look like if its public effects were taken as seriously as its marketing goals. A critical and innovative intervention into the studies of advertising, Flower of Capitalism breaks new ground in current debates on the intersection of media, culture, and politics.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Note to Readers

Introduction: The Politics and Aesthetics of South Korean Advertising

Chapter 1. Historical Struggles over Advertising Freedom

Chapter 2. The Dreams and Realities of Advertising Practitioners

Chapter 3. The Quandaries of Advertising Censorship

Chapter 4. Advertising Publics

Chapter 5. Advertising Suppression and Consumer Citizenship

Epilogue. Digital Times: Wither Advertising?

Appendix 1. Chronology of Major Events in South Korean Advertising

Appendix 2. Acronyms

Appendix 3. Details on Advertisements Mentioned

Notes

References

Index

About the Author

Hawai'i Studies on Korea

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Jul 2022)

ISBN:

9780824893255

0824893255

OCLC:

1336989181