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Competitors for the title of most attractive man on a cable TV channel
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Advertising catches on to the popular trend of men with soft looks
South Koreans- women, mostly- have gone crazy in the past year over 'pretty boys' (so-called 'flower-beauty men' in Korean) such as Lee Jun-ki, the male star with feminine looks that rose to stardom in the blockbuster movie, "The King and the Clown." In fact, the enthusiasm about such looks is going beyond the film industry and into business marketing. Yang Seung-jae, 33, a worker at Internet shopping mall Auction, was recently chosen as a company model for his soft attractiveness. Ha Se-jung, 34, a CJ Group employee, is another example of a worker with such looks also culled to model for his company. "Such good-looking guys are very effective in marketing, in that more than 40 percent of our customers are women," an Auction official said. The cosmetics company Etude has employed such 'pretty' guys in its "beauty counseling" positions at cosmetics counters as part of its "handsome guy marketing" campaign. Instead of the usual women behind the counter, these men help customers choose cosmetics and even assist them in applying some of them, such as hand lotion, for example. One male cosmetics counter employee in Seoul's Myeongdong shopping district - he goes by the name "Joy" - indeed brings joy to tourists who come in to shop, shown by his fan clubs in Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Indonesia.Cable TV channel XTM recently started a reality program in which participants compete for the title of "most attractive" man, with many of the competitors looking decidedly on the 'pretty' side. Among 1,000 applicants, only 25 were chosen, and they will vie for 20 million won (US$21,000) in prize money and a modeling position for a famous fashion brand. Rest assured, however -- looks aren't everything in this contest: the men will also get points for their manners and sense of humor. Lee Deok-jae, an official of XTM, said, "We are not finding simply handsome guys but trying to choose a man who can appeal to women in their 20s and 30s. Women can give their own opinions in selecting most attractive man through the Internet poll and have fun in the process." An exhibition of men's accessories, underway in central Seoul, represents another case of the "pretty boy" syndrome, as some of the accessories are more traditionally female-coded ones, such as earrings and necklaces. "These incidents are proofs that we are moving to a new era where people express their personality regardless of their gender," said Lee Chung-geol, editor in chief at the Korean version of the men's magazine GQ. Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
