Alcohol ads air in Seoul subway

New media outlets are creating loopholes for alcohol ads.
Advertisements for alcoholic beverages are banned from television in the daytime, but are being broadcast in Seoul subway stations because the screens there don’t fall under the scrutiny of broadcasting laws.
At Euljiro 3-ga station on subway line No. 2, large flat panels are fixed in several locations on the glass walls that separate the platform from the tracks. Several advertisements run on these screens, including those for Chamjinisulro and Cheoeumcheoreom, two brands of soju, a Korean distilled wine liquor. The ads can also be found at other subway stations that have flat panel screens.
Typically, soju has an alcohol content between 20 and 25 percent. Cheoeumcheoreom, a relatively new brand, has an alcohol level of 19.8 percent.
According to Korean broadcasting laws, ads for beverages that are 17 percent or higher in alcohol content are banned from broadcasting media. For abeveages with less than 17 percent alcohol, such as beer, ads are only allowed to air on TV after 10 p.m.
These restrictions, however, do not apply to wide screens on the street or monitors installed in subway stations.
“Broadcasting laws only apply to broadcasting media and our definition of broadcasting is when an operator designates time slots for programs. Screens that merely show one video clip after another don’t count as broadcasts,” said Yang Ki-cheol, an official at the Korean Broadcasting Commission.
The flat panel TVs that run soju ads on subway platforms are managed by ad agencies that have contracts with the subway operators. For lines one to four, the operator is Seoul Metro; Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corp. runs lines five to eight. These operators have internal regulations on videos, but they are very general.

By Wohn Dong-hee Staff Writer [wohn@joongang.co.kr]