Korean firms wax patriotic in ads

Companies appealed to Koreans’ sense of patriotism yesterday, Independence Movement Day, in asking them to buy their products. Reigncom, an MP3 player maker, raised the specter of an American invader in its ads: “Will cheering for independence make you independent? Korean researchers have spent their nights in our labs to help Korea become a leading country for flash-memory MP3 players, but an American company is dominating the hard-disk MP3 player market and is now seeking to take over our realm. “We are the descendants of those that stood up against Japanese colonial rule to achieve independence,” the ad concludes. A large Korean flag was placed the top of the ad. A Reigncom official said the company is on the offensive because Apple recently began selling its flash memory-based iPod Shuffle in Korea and lowered prices of its iPod on Feb. 25. Companies also used the renewed controversy over the island of Tokto, which Japan claims as its own, in its advertisements. In its ad, KTF, a mobile service provider, shows a bird’s-eye view of Tokto with a Korean flag superimposed on it. “Japanese cell phones work on Japanese territory, and Korean cell phones work on Korean territory,” the ad says, noting that KTF service is available there. KT, a fixed-wire telecom operator, released a TV commercial that shows students asking Web sites to change “Sea of Japan” to “East Sea.” Shinhan Bank handed out 2,000 Korean flags yesterday at Tapgol Park, in northern Seoul, to children and their parents. At Tapgol Park in 1919, 33 members of the independence movement read Korea’s declaration of independence. Daegu Bank offered a variety of Tokto images on its Web site that people could download to their computers or cellphones. “The recent comment from the Japanese ambassador about Tokto has stirred patriotism among the younger generation, and with it, companies are making more ads that address these sentiments,” an advertising agency official said. by Wohn Dong-hee