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The Advent of the Korean Wave: The social and cultural effects of Korean popular music

and its marketing influences on young Asian teenagers

Introduction

The increase in fascination of the South Korean popular culture products, popularly known as theKorean Wave orHallyu(pronounced han-ryu), paved the way for the rising interest for Koreanpopular music (K-pop) in South East sia and !orth merica" lthough the Korean Wavemainly consists of #oth Korean dramas and K-pop, K-pop resonates specifically well with$young sian teenagers% #ecause it created a uni&ue #lend of sian and Western sensi#ilities('eynolds, *+)" K-pop seamlessly em#eds itself within the youth culture as it is common tosee mem#ers of the Korean tri#e of Koreanophiles sporting Seouls fashion from .ei/ing to0anoi (Shim, 1)" There are concerns that the alluring nature of Korean pop stars can lead to ahedonistic lifestyle for many young sian teenagers (2ho, 3)" 4n the following section, 4 willgive a #ackground overview of the Korean Wave follow #y summary of the precedent studiesfrom previous researchers"

Background

4n this proposal and future papers, 4 will use the term 0allyu and the Korean Waveinterchangea#ly as #oth have the same meaning" 0allyu is a Korean cultural production thatcomprises of all things Korea such as music, sports, foods, and tourism" 0owever, the forefrontof 0allyu is Korean dramas and K-5op as these two popular cultural products act as a catalyst tofurther promote other Korean popular culture products (6ee, **) . The Korean Wave containstwo waves which are identified in the following paragraphs"

The first initial wave, or rather the accidental wave, hit 2hina, Taiwan, and 7apan with its threedrama series8 9:ae 7ang ;eum

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different countries are interested in Korean music" 4n addition, 0allyu mostly attract female fansas the survey also showed that ? percent of people who en/oy Korean cultural product arewomen" The surges from 0allyu and these two Korean popular culture products can #e traced#ack to the *??C sian =inancial 2risis and the Korean ;overnments effort to recover from theeconomic crisis as eAplained in the neAt paragraph"

The *??C economic meltdown first erupted in Thailand, #ut the three countries that were affectedthe most were 4ndonesia, Thailand, and South Korea (4D=, *B)" .ecause of this, there wasenormous pressure from the superpowers and the international financial organiations such as the4nternational Donetary =und (4D=) and the World Trade Frganiation (WTF) for countries insia to open up their cultural market for foreign importations" The influA of foreign culturalproducts such as 0ollywood movies led to heavy competition among the cultural industry inKorea (Tuk, *)" 4n an effort to save their cultural industry, the Korean #roadcasting industryformulated the mantra of 6earning from 0ollywood and emulated merica media system(Shim, 1)" =urthermore, the Korean government also initiated the media li#eraliationprocess, which eased the restrictions on 7apanese culture products and allow the Korean

#roadcasting industry to have more freedom (." D" Kim, **)" This resulted in hy#ridity withinthe Korean popular culture products, which is one of the many factors of 0allyu identified #yscholars in the precedent studies"

Precedent Studies

The rising interest in 0allyu also drew the attention of many scholars" 0owever, most precedentstudies are of Korean origin, most nota#ly Shim (1), Kim G 'yoo (C), and 6ee (**)">ang (*)mentioned in her paper that that previous studies of the Korean Wave can #egrouped into four #road fields" These are summarised as follow" 4n the first field, the ma/ority ofresearchers looked into the #ackground and the development of 0allyu" The second fieldattempted to eAplain the success of the Korean Wave and looks into the interpretation of 0allyufrom the recipient countries" The third field is concerned with the glo#aliation and the economiceffect such as the #ooming of Korea tourism and the increase in sales of 0allyu related productfrom the Korean Wave over sea" The last field focuses on the cultural effect and the changingimages of Korean people where 0allyu has made an impact"

This first identified success factor of 0allyu in East sia is cultural proAimity (Suh, 2ho, GKwon, )" This theory refers to the low cultural #arriers #etween Korea and the rest of sia(Kim G 'yoo, C)" Korean popular culture products, specifically Korean dramas, areem#edded with 2onfucian #eliefs as Korean dramas typically deal with family issues, love, andfilial piety in an age of changing technology (6ee, **)" The second factor is hy#ridity"0y#ridity theory in Korean popular culture was introduced #y :oo#oo Shim (1) and it is thenotion of the #lending #etween Eastern and Western culture" The concept of hy#rid culture isseen in #oth Korean dramas and K-pop, #ut it is more visi#le through K-pop as the sound of K-pop is ad/usted to make it more appealing to foreign audiences (Shim, **)" The third attri#uteis sian modernity" 4wa#uchi () uses the term 9sian modernity to eAplain the popularity ofsian popular culture in 7apan since the *??s" 4n the conteAt of the Korean Wave, youngteenagers use Korean pop music as an outlet to eApress their desire #ecause they are fascinated#y the sophisticated appearance and stylish dance moves of young Korean singers (2ho, 3)"

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The last element of the Korean Wave involves the new social sharing we#sites such as >ouTu#e,=ace.ook, and Wei#o" These social sharing we#sites allow K-pop #ands to reach a wideraudience and those same fans are turning to the same social networking tools to proclaim theirdevotion (2hoe G 'ussel, *).4n this regard, the internet has allowed K-pop to enter directlyinto the teenagers #edroom"

The researchers in the third area of the Korean Wave studies are concerned with the cultural andeconomic imperialism resulting from the eAportation of the Korean popular cultural productsoverseas (0uang, ?8 'yoo, ?)" This approach views East sia as the most profita#lemarket for the Korean Wave (>" 2ho, **)" This is clear given the greatest fan density is insia" report from the Samsung 'esearch 4nstitute showed that num#er of >ouTu#e views forK-pop music videos reached over *"1 #illion as of **" The popularity of Korean Wave mayhave to a new form of economic imperialism, in that the #enefits, mainly profits, are #rought#ack to Korea after their popular culture is eAported to other countries (0uang, ?)" 5arentsare concerned that the consumption of Korean popular culture products can promote a luAuriousand hedonistic lifestyle among the young teenagers (2ho, 3)" This lifestyle ranges from the

purchase of 0allyu related products through adopting the lifestyle of Korean pop stars" SeAemplified in an online Hietnamese newspaper, a mother who has a K-pop fan daughterrevealed that her daughter threatened to &uit school if she could not score a concert ticket to seeher favourite K-pop #and (!guyen, *)"4n addition, it is common to see young mem#ers of aKorea Tri#e or Koreanophiles sporting their interpretation of fashion from Seoul from .ei/ingto 0anoi (Shim, 1)"

Theoretical frameork

There are four stages of 0allyu designed #y Samsung 'esearch 4nstitute8 5opularity of Koreanpopular culture, purchase of Korean popular cultural products, purchase of other Korea products,

and favoura#le impression of Korea (See Ta#le *)" The first state involves countries that canimport Korean dramas and popular music such as the 5hilippines" 4n the second state, thepopularity of 0allyu helps increase the purchase of K-pop record, drama and movies :H:s" Thislead to purchases of other Korean products such as tourism, which is the third state" 4n the laststate, countries that imported 0allyu will get a favoura#le image of Korea" Stage * and aremostly relevant for Korean music and #roadcasting industry" Stage B is important for Koreancompanies that eAport their product overseas such as Samsung and 0yundai" Stage + will #enefitKorean government greatly as the Korean Wave can #e used as national #randing for Korea"

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Ta!le ". Stages of #allyu

Stages of 0allyu EAplanation 2ountries and region*" *" 5opularity of Korean

popular cultureKorean dramas, movies, andK-pop #ecome popular outside

of Korea" Fther countries start#roadcasting Korean dramas

5hilippines, Dalaysia, 'ussia,@#ekistan, @nited States,

South merica, Europe andfrica

" " 5urchase of Korean popularculture products

.eside #roadcasting Koreandramas, movies ticket salesand :H: sales start rising"lso foreigners start #uyingK-pop records and attendconcerts"

Thailand, 4ndonesia,Singapore, .rail, 4ran

B" B" 5urchase of other Koreanproducts

0allyu inspires countries to#uy Korean products related tothe Korean popular culturesuch as food, Korean

language, plastic surgery andtourism"

2hina, 0ong Kong, 7apan

+" +" =avora#le impression ofKorea

Fther countries get a newpositive impression of SouthKorea lifestyle and culture"

Taiwan

Stages of Hallyu. Taken from The role of the government in cultural industry. Some Observation from Koreas

experience! by ". Kim #$%% Keio &ommunication 'evie( ## p.%)*. &opyright #$%% by Keio +niversity

Significance of the $esearch

The ethnic #oundaries around the glo#e have #ecome less clearly defined and consumers of

popular culture, mem#ers of the digital generation, are familiar with transnational and hy#ridculture product through the digital world (7ung, ?)" The demand for K-pop is rising as thereare approAimately IB fan clu#s worldwide with over 1 million mem#ers (5ark, *)" Fn thesupply side, Korean entertainment companies also invest a lot of time and capital in producingtalents (Tuk, *)" The 0allyu phenomenon has led to new calls for research a#out the KoreanWave" While there are several scientific studies and academic literature on apparent success of0allyu, most are of Korean origin" These studies look into the historical #ackground andemphasie the success of 0allyu (0anaki, Singhal, G 2hitnis, C8 Kim G 'yoo, C8 6ee,**8 Shim, 1)" There are also studies that have criti&ued 0allyu, some calling thephenomenon, as a commodity for profit (2ho, 38 'yoo, ?)"

0allyu is a mass consumption, rather than a high consumption products and movement" 4t isdesigned to target a wide range of audiences of different demographics and psychographics"Even in the realm of K-pop, #ands are created in order to satisfy different target markets"5rominent eAamples include ;irls ;eneration and !E*" ;irls ;eneration were created fromthe male fantasy of long legs and short skirts while !E* are #orn from the act of re#ellion fromfemale youth with their feisty and independent style (Epstein G Turn#ull, *+)" These pop starsare the core of 0allyu and yet there are little studies done a#out them" Those that are only focuson the success of K-pop and overlook the marketing effect on young teenagers" 4n this study, 4

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hope to shed some light onto the 0allyu phenomenon among the young sian teenagers and toencourage future researches on the marketing impact of 0allyu in the affected nations"

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