Blog reader Jacqueline left an excellent comment on my blog post about Amy Winehouse last week.As a result, I decided to do a post based on her recommendation that I cover Korean pop band Girls' Generation (aka SNSD).
Since I didn't know anything about the band, I did a quick Google News search. I found that aside from doing real music videos, Girls' Generation has created a series of videos promoting a new LG phone called Cooky.
Here's the main promo video featuring all group members (via allkpop):
I hope that video's catchiness didn't drive you crazy. I had to listen to the guitar solo from Stairway to Heaven at least 5 times afterward to regain some semblance of sanity.
Apparently, this is not Girls' Generation's only endorsement of LG phones, as kpoplive says:
Nowadays, we all do see our favorite idols endorsing products from various South Korea big name companies,such as Samsung and LG.A quick glance at a few related websites suggests that fans don't mind. In fact, they're even happy that Girl's Generation has gotten these endorsement deals.
Without a doubt, Girl’s Generation is probably one of the biggest marketing group for phones.
It's as if love of LG phones and love of Girls' Generation combine to make a super-happy sweetness-oozing video featuring pop music, girls, and baking, and the fans love it.
On the other hand, pop bands in the U.S. don't usually make songs entirely devoted to products (as far as I know). Perhaps they fear overexposure and/or the appearance of "selling out." Of course, some of this resistance has declined in recent years, but it's still got to be unusual for pop bands to create entire songs and music videos based on a product.
Questions for Analysis
What are some arguments in favor of Girls' Generation creating music videos about LG phones?
What are some arguments against Girls' Generation creating music videos about LG phones?
In other words, how might these endorsements help or hurt their careers?
What sort of information would be most helpful in evaluating the benefits and drawbacks of Girls' Generation's willingness to make these endorsement deals?
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Like I said in the Amy Winehouse post last week, I'm open to your suggestions for celebrities to cover in future posts.
(Perez Hilton still hasn't responded to my proposal!)
Photo by protocolsnow / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Thanks, Steve! :)
ReplyDelete--
What are some arguments in favor of Girls' Generation creating music videos about LG phones?
Creating music videos about new technology is the best way for artists to gain publicity. Artists can associate themselves with a popular brand and become popular as well. Developing corporate relationships increases the likelihood for sponsoring events like concerts and big endorsement contracts.
What are some arguments against Girls' Generation creating music videos about LG phones?
Artists can alienate potential/future/current corporate sponsors and fans. The failure of a product may negatively affect the popularity of artists. Artists are restricted by corporate sponsors to only support their products, even in their personal lives despite personal preferences.
If you can find any holes in my reasoning, please let me know :)
Well done, Jacqueline. This is excellent!
ReplyDeletethis is very late... but there are really no arguments against doing this, at least in Korea. SNSD is the biggest idol group there, and so their popularity is massive. Theres no such thing as "selling out" in the idol industry, because idol groups dont write their own music; they just perform it. So these CF's (commercial films) are no different than actual music videos, which fans (like myself) love.
ReplyDelete