If you look at the soju advertising model, you can see who the top female stars are. The soju model is generally characterized by high favorability, clean, innocent, and sexy image.
The soju advertising model was the subject of attention to the extent that it became an article when the signboard model changed. However, there is a high possibility that this climate will change in the future.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on Monday that it is considering revising the Enforcement Decree of the National Health Promotion Act to prevent celebrities from attaching photos of celebrities such as celebrities to liquor containers such as liquor bottles. The move came after the government pointed out that both cigarettes and alcohol are first-class carcinogens, but the government is lukewarm about anti-smoking policies compared to anti-smoking policies.
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Article 10 of the Enforcement Decree of the National Health Promotion Act prohibits "expression that glorifies drinking excessively," but does not prohibit "specific matters" such as advertisements for alcohol bottles.
Earlier on the 15th of last month, it was pointed out that the government was passive in preventing alcohol harm.
Nam In-soon, a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, once said, "In fact, celebrities such as celebrities have a great influence on children and teenagers, and since they can encourage consumption, I don't think we should promote the use of celebrities in the bottle container itself."
In the past, soju models changed their marketing due to changes in the number of men
Since the late 1990s, the soju industry has mostly used young and beautiful female celebrities as models.
In the case of Hite Jinro's "Chamseul," Kim Tae-hee, Kim Tae-hee, IU, and Irene were the first models, while Lotte's mainstream "Like a First" featured Lee Hyo-ri, Yu-yi, and Su-ji. Although there were middle male models, most of them were young female models.
Then, how did young women become representative models for soju.
Originally, when soju was first commercially released in 1924, it was a very strong liquor with a temperature of 35 degrees. After liberation, it was around 30 degrees Celsius in 1965, and the temperature gradually declined to 25 degrees Celsius in the 1980s.
Soju originally had a strong image of a man's alcohol. The soju bottle was transparent, but the transparent glass bottle had a strong meaning.
At this time, the models were almost men, and the advertising message was that soju was the alcohol consumed after hard work. Examples include phrases such as "Always a career path after sweating."
The advertising models were mainly men such as Noh Joo-hyun, Baek Il-seop, and Kwon Hae-hyo
In 1998, Jinro released Chamisul soju (Chamisul soju) with a temperature of 23 degrees Celsius. In 2006, Doosan (later merged with Lotte) released 21 degrees Celsius soju (as if for the first time), and the competition for "mild soju" began.
Since then, the temperature of soju has gradually dropped to the mid-10 degrees Celsius, with the "Chamseul Fresh" at 19.8 degrees Celsius and 19.5 degrees Celsius, just like Lotte's original. The bottle also turned green, emphasizing eco-friendly and naturalistic image.
Some say that the low frequency of soju is the background of the emergence of female models.
According to Sungkyunkwan University's <Consumer's Attitudes based on Soju Advertising Poster Image> paper, when the image of 'Soju = mild alcohol' was linked to marketing, it was positioned as soft and easy-to-drink alcohol, and women with soft images were preferred to men with rough images.
Kim Nam-yoon, deputy director of Lotte Liquor's public relations office for "Like the First Time," said in a telephone interview with BBC Korea, "We didn't select it by gender," adding, "Because the attributes of the soju industry are softness and cleanliness, we chose a model that fits the image."
"IU Law" that came to mind in 2015
This is not the first time there has been a controversy over mainstream advertising models.
This began in 2012 when former figure skater Kim Yu-na became a beer "Hite" model when she was 21 years old.
Then, in 2015, when singer IU was selected as a model for Chamisul at the age of 21 at the time, the controversy ignited.
The background was that if a celebrity with a friendly image, who has been active since his teens, was a mainstream model, he could promote a youth drinking culture.
For this reason, the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee passed the so-called "IU Bill" that prohibits celebrities under the age of 24 (youth age under the Youth Basic Act) from advertising alcohol, but it did not pass the plenary session.
It was because there was no foreign precedent and it undermined freedom of choice.
What happens to the follow-up of the Ministry of Health and Welfare?
The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to first grasp the current situation at home and abroad and start investigation as the first step toward revising the enforcement ordinance.
In the case of cigarettes, there is a government department dedicated to smoking cessation projects, but there is no department dedicated to drinking harm.
If the enforcement ordinance is revised, the ministry plans to add words such as "celebrities, celebrities, etc." to describe the part that says "too much glorification of drinking." This will make it difficult to find celebrity models in current soju commercials.
Lotte Liquor said, "Since the enforcement ordinance has not been revised yet, we are discussing it internally, but nothing has been set. We will change it almost accordingly when (the government's policy) is set."