Monday, June 18, 2007

Bean Pole: The Grandaddy of Fake Korean Brands

Pop Quiz: What do these two people all have in common?


A. They are both British
B. They are both Academy Aware winning actors
C. They are both models for the fake Korean brand Bean Pole International.

Okay that was kind of a no-brainer. While Paltrow enjoys her British accented roles, she is American, and Miller hasn't won an Oscar.

When I first arrived I was confused when I saw the first ads for Bean Pole International. These ads starred Gwenyth Paltrow, and a Korean looking guy making statements that barely made sense, while walking on what appears to be a London streets. Was this some British company I have never heard of? But the ad looks Korean--they purposely had used a Korean actor to star opposite Paltrow.

Well, a little investigation has turned up that Bean Pole, is 100% Korean. Like Polham, it uses western people in its ads, uses an English name, and by all appearances seems to be British. See below. (The subtitles are not in the actual commercial but were added by whomever uploaded the video to Youtube).



The guy in the above commercial is Daniel Henney. He is an American of Korean descent. While few Americans have heard of him, he's huge in Korea.

Then this spring, Korean news was very excited about Prison Break's Wentworth Miller's coming to Korea. Prison Break is pretty big here in Korea, and as you can see from the video, so is Miller. He is the spokes model for Bean Pole Jeans. Below is a video from the press conference. I love the reaction when he speaks a few words of Korean. Warning: turn down the volume or you may experience hearing damage from the sound of hundreds of Korean women screaming in unison.

6 comments:

  1. [b]Pop Quiz:

    What do these people all have in common?


    A. They are all British
    B. They are all Academy Aware winning actors
    C. They are all models for the fake Korean brand Bean Pole International. [/b]

    I guess I am missing your point... Wentworth Miller is not British but a British born American, Gwenyth Paltrow is American too I believe. Miller hasn't yet won an Academy award. So what is this about? Are bean pole jeans defective in some way ?.. or just good business people for giving their potential customers what they want?? ie jeans worn by celebrities they love.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Okay, my anonymous critic has left another comment. First, the pop quiz is a playful way to begin the post. I'm merely pointing out how these Korean brands are so wholly constructed to appear non-Korean.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Another good example of a domestic brand trying to create a sense of cachet by using "foreign" branding is Häagen-Dazs ice cream.

    In the same way that Bean Pole or Polham try to come across as American, Häagen-Dazs tries to sound Scandinavian (or is it German or Dutch?). But it's an entirely American company, and the name is nonsensical in the other languages.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yeah good example with Häagen-Dazs. Like many "English" slogans and names on Korean brands, Häagen-Dazs doesn't have any meaning! They just made up the word because it sounded German--or is it Scandinavian.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I came across a Bean Pole store outlet in one of Korea's popular Shinsaegae shopping centers. One of their polo shirts that resembled Ralph Lauren, were designs that showed great heritage to the sport of Rugby. Then a sales representative came to me and tried to sell the idea that the Bean Pole brand was prestigious. He mention that it's mother company, assuming that I had the same respect of it as he did but instead made me cringe, was Samsung.

    Then I asked the sales rep about the Rugby design proudly displayed on the Bean Pole shirt. I asked if Rugby was popular in Korea. Do Koreans play rugby. The sales representative hesitated, and then said, "No, we don't play rugby."

    ReplyDelete
  6. I came across a Bean Pole store outlet in one of Korea's popular Shinsaegae shopping centers. One of their polo shirts that resembled Ralph Lauren, were designs that showed great heritage to the sport of Rugby. Then a sales representative came to me and tried to sell the idea that the Bean Pole brand was prestigious. He mention that it's mother company, assuming that I had the same respect of it as he did but instead made me cringe, was Samsung.

    Then I asked the sales rep about the Rugby design proudly displayed on the Bean Pole shirt. I asked if Rugby was popular in Korea. Do Koreans play rugby. The sales representative hesitated, and then said, "No, we don't play rugby."

    ReplyDelete

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