Well, Korean guys (in Korea AND America) generally find Korean women who smoke to be gross, undesirable, and "feminist". This is such a stupid double standard because when Korean guys smoke (almost about 97.9% of all Korean guys) it is seen as cool, edgy and manly.
Anyways, my point is that the traditional Korean girl (all my cousins back in the homeland)would rather get married and look good in front of guys, so the tobacco industry is up the creek with no rice paddle!
My daughter is South Korean and is in regular contact with her birth parents and other relatives there. She recently returned from a 2 week visit.
I asked her about this and she said it is nothing new. Their society is very conservative compared to ours, but young women are constantly driven to be thin and look Western. She said most of them do smoke, mostly to keep from eating and to handle stress. Young people there are under a tremendous amount of pressure from their parents and society to be fashionable, smart and successful.
This must be like shooting fish in a barrel for big tobacco, and I'm a smoker myself.
@info*ninja: zomg, that commercial is horrible. In a slim purse pack! Liberate yourself by showing your belly button! Better for your feminine hands! And the tag "You've come a long way Baby" is so condescending and patronizing. It's like, you can vote, you can smoke, but you're still "baby" to me! We're so proud of you women, doing manly things, it's so cute! Ok, end of rant.
The targeting kids part is true throughout the world; sadly as we gained better smoking laws, big tobacco increased their marketing efforts in the majority world-especially kids.
Ha, eff you big tobacco (she says quietly, barely a week free of smoking...)
@Cafezinha: I've never understood why "slim" and "ultralight" were selling points for cigarettes. It's not like you eat them...are women that pathetic that we fall for it just because we see the words?
@MizJenkins: My bad. I was thinking NORTH Korea, with the nutty dictator and and food rationing and the starvationb and all (still, not quite Third World).
@Hamsterpants: Actually - smoking is huge in many Asian countries. Like, disgustingly pervasive. Has been for a long time. China is leading the world in per capita tobacco deaths, actually... although, now that I think about it, it's predominantly men. I guess that's why the new spike in marketing for women.
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Anyways, my point is that the traditional Korean girl (all my cousins back in the homeland)would rather get married and look good in front of guys, so the tobacco industry is up the creek with no rice paddle!
I don't know if that makes me sad or happy.
01/30/09
I asked her about this and she said it is nothing new. Their society is very conservative compared to ours, but young women are constantly driven to be thin and look Western. She said most of them do smoke, mostly to keep from eating and to handle stress. Young people there are under a tremendous amount of pressure from their parents and society to be fashionable, smart and successful.
This must be like shooting fish in a barrel for big tobacco, and I'm a smoker myself.
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[www.dailymotion.com]
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Ha, eff you big tobacco (she says quietly, barely a week free of smoking...)
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I...uh...what?
Gotta protect those wimmin-folk. They're just so simple that they can't help but respond to the big bad advertisers' lures.
(I can get behind the children thing, seeing as it's actually illegal for the kids to smoke 'em anyhow, but...the women thing just boggles.)
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