Here is your WTF for the day.
I got nothing to say, except that I’m still shaking my head.
From Eastwindupchronicle…
it’s not the only Pizza Etang ad that seems to have come from a parallel universe.
Uh…yeah. I’m at a total loss, folks. Talk amongst yourselves.
16/02/2009 at 12:25 pm Permalink
Yeesh. The dude with the mohawk sounds like he’s using the n-word at :50.
16/02/2009 at 12:48 pm Permalink
I see it as creative and the student who was just now in my office enjoyed it too.
But if they are using bad bad words than shame…shame!
16/02/2009 at 12:49 pm Permalink
Where was this shown? It sounds like some audible Korean-language profanity is in there, too.
Is this something that actually didn’t show up in any mainstream media format but it’s making the rounds in a viral way so people will do exactly what we’re doing, which is talk about it? :$
16/02/2009 at 2:51 pm Permalink
It was great till they dropped the n-bomb and did all of the black face. Reminds me of this picture I posed for with Miley Cyrus. We were doing an ad for Red Robbin Burgers that day. But I suppose that it is a bit ironic that they are laughing at other races in an ad that clearly shows a person putting squid and potatoes on a pizza.
16/02/2009 at 9:39 pm Permalink
So I wasn’t dreaming the n-bomb? How common is that word used here, anyways?
16/02/2009 at 9:41 pm Permalink
I saw this shirt in Dongdaemun once (NSFW). I was hoping it was an isolated incident.
http://wetcasements.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/dongdaemun-yeesh.jpg
16/02/2009 at 10:25 pm Permalink
Well the Korean in the box above said, Mashikata Ni kae, but that defiantly wasn’t what he said. I only heard it once in a conversation with a Korean college kid, who was planning to go to San Francisco. His friend told him not to go to a certain part. When he told me why, I told him he should never use that word. A few years back I was watching some T.V. show. There was some kid rapper, about 12 years old, who had lived in New Zealand and was a part of a rapping duo. This kid seemed to think that dropping F bombs on T.V. was okay because no one in Korea knows what it means. That was actually the last I saw of that kid. I don’t live in Seoul so I don’t know how common it is.
17/02/2009 at 7:43 am Permalink
I actually can’t blame Koreans (or Russians, or Brits, or whomever, who also use the n-word) for picking up on hip-hop slang. But it does seem like there’s a need to explain to them that you will get you ass kicked, or perhaps more importantly, lose a potential job, for employing that type of nomenclature.
Not trying to sound all holier than thou, but man, that’s just kind of weird to hear the n-bomb dropped in something as banal as a pizza commercial.
At the end of the day, it’s kind of an impossible situation.
17/02/2009 at 4:06 pm Permalink
I see this commercial everyday on the subway (Line 3), and it’s funny.
I don’t really care that there is swearing in it. It’s stupid and unnecessary, but really…did hearing the bad words ruin your day?
Also, hip hop is so riddled with n-bombs I don’t see how the word is still offensive when used in the context its used in that commercial.
I was once browsing books at Kyobo with NWA playing over the PA system. It was funny and I am glad I experienced that. Beats the hell out of the Wondergirls, no?
18/02/2009 at 4:14 am Permalink
Jaim makes a good point about Koreans and other non-Anglophone nationalities picking up on the N-word in pop music and using it without knowing the implications. The convoluted social conventions surrounding that word are very confusing not just to outsiders but also to many American natives.
To some extent, the same applies to black face and other caricatures of Blacks, which were not only dominant in mainstream American media that was (is!) available in Korea, but were also sanctioned by Hollywood and its stars (Bing Crosby, anyone?). How are Koreans — or Japanese or Taiwanese or Uzbekis or anyone — supposed to keep up when Americans suddenly complicate their own rules and take offense when everyone else hasn’t followed suit?
Even the word “fu¢k” doesn’t carry the same meaning to Koreans as it would to Americans, since the lack of outrage.
chiamatt wrote:
I see this commercial everyday on the subway (Line 3), and it’s funny.
I don’t really care that there is swearing in it. It’s stupid and unnecessary, but really…did hearing the bad words ruin your day?
I’m really surprised that there hasn’t been a locally generated push to remove this if it’s playing repeatedly in the subway system. A lot of Koreans are afraid to be the only one to make the stink about something, but I’d have thought the Korean-sounding swear words would be enough to prompt someone to do something.
18/02/2009 at 4:16 am Permalink
since the lack of outrage
–> hence the lack of outrage
If someone could edit my original comment and then remove this follow-up fix, I’d be most appreciative, unless more comments is a way of boosting your BlogJuice ratings.
18/02/2009 at 6:59 am Permalink
Started here, with a breakout video that became an instant hit back in 2007. I blogged it and noted how very, very smart I thought it was. Still think so.
19/02/2009 at 12:52 pm Permalink
Met: that IS an amazing video, and a really interesting example of global cultural cross-pollination.
Thanks for the link. This Mr. Tyfoon is certainly on my radar now…yah. Wow.
21/02/2009 at 9:58 am Permalink
Koreans use the N word (What would be the reaction if I used the N word in its entirety for the purposes of a rational debate?) because of hip hop culture but as a kind of backward society, at least in terms of integration and multi culturalism, I can’t imagine that most Koreans would be horrified if told about its origins. The ad is silly and not really offensive, just ignorant. The really sad fact is that I don’t think most Koreans would care about it.
Jaim does make a good point about the words use but unfortunately Kushibo didn’t quite read his post correctly as he refers to Brits as non Anglophone. Brits (at least the English) are the single most Anglophone nation in the world by definition, with Anglo meaning English an all. Pedantic of course but it isn’t my middle name for nothing!
21/02/2009 at 3:00 pm Permalink
“Brits (at least the English) are the single most Anglophonic nation in the world by definition”
23/02/2009 at 1:22 pm Permalink
I bow down to your pendantic greatness!