BoA Becomes a Woman?
I’m already nine hours behind on my resolution to study Korean for an hour a day in 2008, but I can be forgiven for being lax while on vacation. But today is the first Monday since I got back, so it’s high time to start catching up, and can think of much worse ways to practice my Korean skills than checking out the breaking news that 21 year-old BoA has apparently become an adult by, well, appearing in a beer commercial:
While my interest in the ad in this post is primarily in getting more hits practicing Korean, the ad does tie in with this some observations I made in this November post about alcohol advertisements in Korea. In a nutshell, I learned that soju ads are primarily aimed at men and so have attractive women in them, and the opposite applies to beer ads, but at the end of that post I mentioned the recent ads below for “ass-beer” “S-beer”, which seems to buck the trend by using a woman to advertise the beer to women, the idea being that the extra fibre in it makes them slimmer and healthier than if they drink other beers. I’m not much of beer drinker, but I hear that ”S-beer” is not exactly going to take the world by storm, and I wondered in the earlier post if this syle of ad was a one-off or the start of a new trend.
As I type this, I’m about to translate this article about BoA’s ad, and hopefully it will place it into some kind of context (stop laughing). If not, then I apologise for not searching harder for one from the plethora available that did (it’s clearly a very important news story), but instead I chose not only the longest one I could find, but also one with a video of her dancing sluttily at the end of it (hope that’s okay). The former criterion, at least, is in line with my other 2008 Korean-study resolutions about only translating articles that may actually have something to say, and not only that I’m also going to try and figure out what she’s actually saying in the ad:
보아의 솔직한 맥주 이야기 #1 ((Written) BoA’s honest beer story #1)
아~. 나 오늘 지짜 수고했어. 그래…수고했으니까 이 정도는 해줘야지. 나를 위해서 뭐 이런거 있잖아요. (Ahhh~. Today I really did work hard and do a good job. Well…because I did a good job I deserve this, yes?)
솔직하게 Open up! 히트. (Honestly open up! Hite.)
I confess, nothing in that I didn’t understand, but it was so fast that I couldn’t make out half of it, and needed my wife’s help. Now for the article:
보아, 첫주류 CF…’당당한 숙녀’
[백민재 기자/2008-01-14 09:42]
Boa, First Alcoholic Beverage Commercial…’Dignified Lady’
[Reporter: Baek Min-jae]
이제는 어엿한 숙녀가 된 가수 보아가 2008년 하이트 맥주의 새로운 광고 모델로 발탁됐다. 생애 첫 주류 CF인 것.
BoA, who has down turned into a respectable and decent lady in 2008 (James: Ahem…did the reporter even see the video at the end of his own report?) has been selected to appear in Hite Beer advertisements. This is the first time in her career that BoA has appeared in an advertisement for an alcoholic beverage.
이번 하이트맥주의 신규 CF는 모델의 솔직한 리얼 토크 형식의 촬영 기법을 시도했다.
In this new type of Hite Beer Ad, the models will try out a technique of giving honest “real talk” about their experiences.
이에 새로운 하이트 맥주CF에서 보아의 모습은 촬영을 위해 연출된 것이 아닌 취중 토크 상황. 보아가 CF안에서 맥주를 마시며 털어놓는 이야기들은 지금껏 한 번도 공개된 적이 없는 개인적인 이야기라는 후문이다.
Accordingly, this new “real talk” style of Hite Beer ad was not set up deliberately, but was just shot while she was relaxing over drinks (James: Yeah, right). In this ad, BoA, who until now has never publicly revealed anything about when she’s drunk beer, gives some personal anecdotes.
술을 못 마시는 편은 아니라고 주량을 밝힌 보아는 리얼한 모습을 카메라 속에 담아내기 위해 6시간 가까이 진행된 촬영에도 “연습으로 쌓인 스트레스를 풀며 맥주도 마실 수 있어 좋다”며 촬영장 분위기를 화기애애하게 만들었다.
In order to get a real talk style from BoA, a camera followed her closely for 6 hours. By revealing that she’s not a heavy drinker, but drinks quite often and thinks it is good to relieve stress and unwind after singing and/or dancing all day, BoA produced a relaxed atmosphere on the set.
하이트 관계자는 “이번 신규CF는 스타의 화려한 모습 이면에 숨겨진 당당하고 솔직한 인간적인 면모를 보여줄 수 있는 모델을 선정하기 위해 고심을 거듭했다”며 “이에 첫 번째 광고 모델로 아시아를 넘어 글로벌 스타로 끊임없이 도전하고 노력하는 보아를 모델로 선정하게 됐다”고 밝혔다.
According to a Hite spokesperson, “for this new style of advertisement, we took great pains to choose a star who could bring forth a magnificent and refined image on the one hand, but also an honest and human one.” The spokesperson added that “for the first ad in this new series, BoA was chosen because she is a star that ceaselessly craves new challenges, and whom can appeal to a global rather than just an Asian audience.”
한편, 보아의 솔직한 모습으로 시청자의 눈길을 사로잡은 새로운 하이트 광고 ‘보아의 솔직한 맥주 이야기 편’은 지난 1월 12일부터 첫 전파를 탔다.
This new honest side of BoA is expected to captivate viewers. This first ad in the series was released on January the 12th.
Jolly good. Not a penetrating examination of Korean social mores, but I did get some new Korean vocab out of it.
That’s my one hour of Korean study for today done then, yippee, but now I have to continue with something else to make some inroads into my minus-nine hours deficit! I’ll get stuck on that, but in the meantime the original article did have an extremely relevant video of BoA performing at the end of it, and I would be doing the original journalist and my readers a great disservice by not presenting it myself:
(Edit: I did originally have the article’s video of BoA dancing up here, sorry, but it started automatically (and very noisily) every time I looked at the blog, and I didn’t want that hanging around on the blog forever (it always really puts me off sites myself). I couldn’t break my promise of a video though, so I’ve included this video of a song of hers I like instead, and may even use to study Korean sometime. But if you feel that she isn’t dancing sluttily enough in it that doesn’t do justice to the orginal article’s high journalisic standards…then, well, I’m terribly sorry, but don’t despair, for the original video is a mere click away)
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Damn. I like the green bikini girl. Ouch.
Couldn’t agree more, although I doubt she drinks too much of the product she’s advertising.
Is BoA more famous than Hyori in South Korea ?
I dont think her body is the same as Hyori’s ,she’s smaller and less curvy !!!!!!!!!
Maybe she would blossom into full woman later !!!!
She’s pretty ,but no Hyori Lee !!!!
BoA would be less popular than Lee Hyori in Korea, but equally well-known. BoA is much much more well-known overseas though.
And come on Mike, it takes all sorts to make a world after all, and surely you’d agree that there’s more to Korean women than just Lee Hyori?
Yes but Hyori is too special !!!!
I think she’s hottest and most beautiful Korean women .
Second place would probably be Ivy or Chae Yeon !
I think i am too obsessed with her .I defended her against few haters at Popseoul couple of times ,and lost my temper .
Do you know why they bash her so much at Popseoul ????
They praise black women like Beyonce ,but bash Hyori i dont get why ????? Sorry for my ranting ,but i hate when they bash Hyori .For example at Popseoul they wrote that she doesnt have enough butt and that she’s flat .I dont get it what’s the deal with big butt worship there .
I dont know ,but i like Korean women not African American ones like Beyonce .I just hate when they call Asian women flat or boy like bodye’s
I am curious, how do you feel when they say that Asian women dont have enough curves .In America they worship big butts now days too much because of Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce .
Sorry for long post ,its just that Popseoul is full of haters.
I find Hyori attractive of course, but I couldn’t care less if other people don’t. I don’t like Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, or “Miss World Cup” Mina/미나 myself, but I’ve got better things to do than tell the world on internet message boards.
Lee Hyori is just a convenient target for people, as she’s the most well-known, and it’s pretty obvious that her singing career wouldn’t have been quite as successful without her looks.
I also couldn’t care less if people say that “Asian women don’t have enough curves.” Some guys like them, some don’t…whatever. But it’s certainly true that Korean women tend to have smaller chests and waist sizes than Americans, but a) what country doesn’t? and b) there’s plently of curvey Koreans out there, and more and more as the diet changes and the standard of living improves. The changes have been so fast that there is a simply HUGE physical generation gap, and it would take less than a day wandering around here to see that Western images of Koreans as short and waif-like are waaay outdated.
But come to think of it, based on the Chinese people I’ve met here the stereotypes about Chinese people do still seem to true, because their diets and standards of health-care are still a good 20 years behind Korea, maybe even more, so I usually find it easy to easy to spot them because of their smaller stature.
Do you read Popseoul’s comments sometimes ?
What amazes me how people get so rude and silly on many of these message /blogs.You Tube is also full of fighting and heated debates .What i dont get is why is it so hard for people to get along with each other online ?constant bitching and fightings are just way too annoying .Instead of debating civily ,they resort to name calling and bashings.
So ,i am kinda curious .Do you read Popseoul’s blog or You Tube comments section ???
No, like I said, they deleted my first ever comment within 10 minutes, and I’m not going to revisit a blog that treats its readers with such dissrespect.
I don’t read Youtube’s comments either, there’s usually hundreds, so people end up saying the same things as previous commentators pretty quickly.
I have two questions if you don’t mind ?
1) Do you know where i can get latest news on Hyori ,because i used to get latest info from Popseoul but i dont want to go there anymore.
2) Do Korean man beat their wives or so i heard ?
1) Sorry, I don’t. How about http://www.bjunkyard.com/ when it comes back online?
2) I won’t pretend that I don’t think domestic violence is more prevalent here than in most Western countries, but I’d hesitate to make any generalisations beyond that.
AY QUE LINDA SENIORITA !!!!!
In Spanish what a cute lady.
All thought i like Hyori more ,BoA is nice too !!!!
How famous BoA is in China ?
Who is the woman in the S-beer ad? Is she anybody, or just anonymous?
Don’t know sorry. I’ve only ever seen her in this ad, but I’ll try to find out who she is over the weekend for you.
To Mike:
Even if Hyori is prettier, you have to admit, she is far less talented than BoA, Beyonce, and any of the other big artists out there. I don’t hate her or anything, in fact, I think she’s gorgeous, but honestly, the girl can’t sing, she can’t act, and her dancing is just alright, nothing too special. However, we all know BoA and Beyonce and their concerts. And it’s also quite true that if Hyori were any bit less attractive, she wouldn’t be where she is today.
And as for the butt-size and stuff, I’ve been to Asia (I’m Asian, but an American citizen), and yes, they do have much less curvier women and far more plastic surgery. I’m not saying their uglier or anything, but Americans eat far more, and thus, they are curvier. And as for Hyori’s role in this, just note that the size of her butt or Beyonce’s doesn’t matter. Quite frankly, it’s up to their talent/skills, since, after all, that’s what they are, right? They’re in the entertainment business of course. =P
Steph,
I agree with all your points, but don’t pay too much attention to Mike. Shortly after writing those comments…hmmm, let’s just say he went a little crazy and ended up being the first ever commenter I banned!
Brian,
I have been slack haven’t I? I’ll try to find out soon!
nice article about boa
Interesting article !!
BoA is very famous in Korea.