Consumer Advertising for Korean Women and Impacts of Early Consumer Products

under Japanese Colonial Rule

Author(s): Jung Sook BAE
Source: Icon , 2012, Vol. 18 (2012), pp. 104-121
Published by: International Committee for the History of Technology (ICOHTEC)

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 Consumer Advertising for Korean Women and
Impacts of Early Consumer Products under Japanese
Colonial Rule

Jung Sook BAE

This article examines colonial consumer advertising for Korean women and the
impacts of early consumer goods during Japanese occupation in Korea. In analysing
consumer advertising of women's magazines and newspapers from the Korean
colonial period, the results revealed that educated and westernised Korean women
in the 1920s and 30s were proud of their new lifestyle, which was influenced by
new consumption trends in their everyday lives. Even though early consumer
products and their advertising were influenced by Japanese colonial political drive
for cultural assimilation, Korean women's new consumption trend was a selective,
dialectic process between Korean tradition and Western modernity, between
nationalism and colonialism. Finally, this selective process seemed to lead to the
New Korean Women's Movement in the 1920s and 1930s. The rapid change in
social, political, technological and industrial context reveals strong links between
colonial environments and the respective weight of typical aspects of advertising,
including the shift in usagefrom the Korean to the Japanese language. The contrast
between the advertised goods in Korea and in the West was related to a difference
in goals: sales in the West; sales and colonial politics in Korea.

INTRODUCTION

Consumer advertising has been the target of many social studies. One o
most important themes has been how visual advertising could be tr
into effective consumption behaviour. The role of consumer adve
includes attracting attention, creating impact and stimulating interest
indifference through conveying a desire among people for consum
new products. The 1920s and 1930s marked the rise of consumer cu

Jung Sook BAE is a Professor-Researcher in the Department of Humanities, Lab. RECI

(Research Institute for Transport, Energy and Society), University of Technology
Montbéliard, 90010 Belfort Cedex, FRANCE ([email protected]). The author wou
thank James C. Williams for his detailed comments and revisions on earlier drafts of this e

ICON: Journal of the International Committee for the History of Technology, 18 (2012): 104-

© 2013 by the International Committee for the History of Technology

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 Jung Sook BAE 105

mass production created a flood of consumer

advertising to drive the idea of mass consumpti
In the Korean colonial social order promoted
to 1945, Korean women were exposed to
Japanese world. During this time, Japanese p
between occupation, colonisation and assimilat
was perceived differently by Korean women.
sumerism during this time span must be linked
in Korea.

Transmission and perception of advertising de

surroundings. The Korean environment at the b
was so peculiar that the most involved character
here. Newspapers, in their advertising sections,
and were influenced by the tremendous and lon
as well as by, especially, the emergence of a new

KOREAN PRESS AND MAGAZINES DU

COLONIAL PERIOD

During Japanese colonial rule, the first Korean women's magazine,

(Spouse) was published by Kaebyok (Great Opening) in 1922. Bou
renamed Sinyeosung (New Woman) in 1923 and continued unti
During the 1920s, the Korean women's movement emerged, and the
women's movement association, Chosunyeosungdongwoohwoei (
Women's Friendly Association) was founded in 1924. Another assoc
for intellectual women, Kunwoohwoei (Association of Hibiscus Flo
Friends) was founded in 1927.2 During Japanese colonisation, Dong
(East Asia Newspapers) published the Hibiscus flower's image i
volume from 1923 through 1933, and, although the Japanese regime tri
change this flower's symbolism as the eternity of Korea, it became
national flower, and with it the New Women's movement became visible
In traditional Confucian patriarchy, the social position of Korean
had been identified only by their individual roles, such as daughter, spo
mother, but not by their given names. The trend away from Confucian
archy was spearheaded in 1920 by the Dongailbo and another large
Korean newspaper, the Chosunilbo (Chosun Newspapers). These tw
papers gave wide circulation to new ideas and aspirations held by the
ing class of modern Korean intelligentsia. One of the most provocat
persistent topics of this period was the question of'New Women'.
In fact, the issue of Korean women was not entirely novel to the
tion of the 1920s. During the pre-colonial period (1895-1909), duri
Kapoyungjang (Enlightenment Movement) years, the news

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106 Consumer Advertising for Korean Women

Tongnipsinmun (Independence Newspaper, 1896-1899) played a pioneering

role in both challenging traditional Korean women in the Confucian hier
archical family system and in advocating gender equality and education for
women. Another daily, the Cheguksinmun (Imperial Newspaper, 1898-1910),
was entirely written in Korean using Han-geul (the indigenous alphabet). It
was expressly created for the enlightenment of Korean women who were
almost all educationally deprived. The benefit for Korean society may have
been manifested most strikingly in the heroic and self-sacrificing feats of
educated women during the 1919 Independence Movement.
In my research, I first studied all Korean women's magazines in the
decades of the 1920s and 1930s, after which I analysed the main image of
women held by each editor. The list of Korean women's magazines, the focus
of their editors and the magazines' primary advertising image of women for
1920s-1930s are summarised in Table 1.

The 1920s marked the most important period in Korean women's maga
zines, for there were many magazines as well as diversified editors. The two
main reasons for this were colonial politics and the emergence of modern,
educated women. In the 1910s, the Japanese permitted only religious and
academic publications from Korean presses. But, after the massive national
Independence Movement of 1 March 1919, Samilundong (March 1st
Movement), which followed the January 21st death of Kojong, the last king
of the Chosun Dynasty, thirty-three Korean activists declared Korea's inde
pendence from Japan, and some two million Koreans throughout the
provinces participated in the March event. Numerous Korean women also
participated very actively, such as Ryugwansun, a fifteen-year-old female
student organiser of the demonstration. She was arrested with other demon
strators by Japanese policy and died in prison on October 12,1920.
In response, the Japanese began seeing cultural assimilation as a political
issue and, in 1920, gave limited permission to publish Korean magazines and
newspapers.4 Meanwhile, educated women began to work outside the home
and started regularly reading magazines. Several editorials in Sinyeosung
noted that all the magazine issues had been sold and the editors expressed
thanks to their readers. In some cases, they apologised for not having suffi
cient issues: '... all volumes of this month were sold even though we had
doubled the last month's quantity. So we regret very much this situation and
we'd like to mail to readers who had commanded for this month the next
volume.'5

The situation changed in the 1930s. After the Japanese invasion of

Manchuria in 1931, the colonial regime oppressed the Korean press even
more, controlling it more intensely. Editorial subjects in women's magazines
focused on improvement and enrichment of everyday life at the individual

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 Jung Sook BAE 107

Table
Table 1. Korean
1. Korean
magazines
magazines
for womenfor
in thel
women
920s-1930s
in thel 920s-1930s
1920s
1920s

Focus of editor Name of magazine: Primary Women's image

Transliterated Korean (English)

Korean students in Japan Kajeongjapji (Family magazine)

Yeojasiron (Women's poetry)
New Women's Association Sinyeoja (New women)
Sinkajeong (New Family)
Bunyejikwang (Women's Intelligence)
Hwalbunyae (Active Women)
Bunyesaeke (Women's world)
Enterprise of the magazine Bouin (Spouse)
Hyunbouin (Modern Wife) Modern elegant women
Sinyeosun (New Women)
Sonyeokae (Girl's world)
Yeosungjiwoo (Women's friends)
Private girls' schools Ihwa (Flower of pear)
Baehwa (Flower for encouragement)
Kisaeng
(Public women) Janghan (Long nostalgia)
1930s

Focus of editor Name of magazine: Primary Women's image

Transliterated Korean (English)

Enterprise of magazine Sinyeosung (New Women)

Yeosungsidae (Women's time)
Yeosungchosun (Korean women)
Bouinkonglon (Wife's opinion)
Hyundaikajeungkonlon (Modern
family's opinion) Modern elegant women
Mankukbouin (International women)plus
Woorikajeung (Our family) Attractive working women
Hyundaiyaesung (Modem
(Modern women)
women)
Kajeungjlwoo (Family friends)
Kajeungjiwoo
Newspaper company Sinkajeung (New family)
Yeosung (Women)
Women who work in a cafe
café Yeosung (Women's Voice)

level instead of on critical and offensive groups' opposition to colonisation.

Editors changed their roles to avoid confrontations with the Japanese regime.
Ultimately, most women's magazines stopped publishing by the end of the
decade.

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108 Consumer Advertising for Korean Women

CONSUMER ADVERTISING FOR KOREAN WOMEN

Advertisements perform literal and symbolic functions. They provide f

information on products and also can directly or indirectly conne
images of products with the meanings that are assigned to them.
images are used to command attention, stimulate curiosity, demo
product features and benefits, establish a personality for a product, ass
the product with certain symbols and lifestyles and anchor the bra
tity in the minds of target consumers.
The recognition of the importance of culture on consumer behaviours
led to an increasing amount of research. Many studies have succee
establishing links between culture and consumer behaviours.6 Accor
the anthropologist Anthony Wallace and social scientist Geert Hof
framework of the mind, culture is the all-encompassing force fo
personality, and personality, in turn, is the key determinant of con
behaviour. At the same time, a given behaviour or cultural pattern
persistence of a similar, previously existing pattern, or is the consequen
conditions that existed in some earlier period.7
Although continuities in many cultures are often as vehemently denie
they are supported, recently scholars have swung back to affirming cul
continuity. This last trend fits well with the Korean experience studied
where some patterns of Confucianism are among the most enduring tra
Korean behaviour.8 As the mainstream of Korean culture, Confucianism
strongly present in Korean life during the Chosun dynasty, long before
Japanese colonisation of Korea. Feminine modesty and chasti
rigorously imposed on Korean women. The Confucian political
emphasised the importance of family life for personal cultivation
strengthened the Korean Family system with several cultural imper
such as ancestor worship, filial piety and a patriarchal family structure
these social and cultural ideas legitimised men as authorities and pri
them as the sole inheritor of the family names, more attention and pri
were given to men in the family line and women's importance was r
considerably. Chosun dynasty's economy was largely agricultural, an
almost every traditional agricultural society, the importance of a physi
strong man was prevalent.9
In the end of the 19th century, Koreans had almost no contact wi
few western people entering the peninsula from such countries as the U
States, France, Great Britain, Germany and Russia. In 1886, the first
for girls, Ihwha Girls School (Pear Blossom Academy), was founded i
by American evangelist Mary F. Scran ton (1832-1909), whose s
William B. Scranton, had been appointed to the Methodist Medical M
in Korea two years earlier. The Ihwha Girls School became one of th

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 Jung Sook BAE 109

important pioneer educational institutions for

ing with the introduction of Christianity into K
Korean modern history and the Korean women's
Japan's colonial policy focused on the cultural i
Japan and is symbolically seen in the fact that a
Japanese names. Yet, the Korean Independence
failing in its goal of regaining sovereignty from
the Japanese colonial government a political conc
cultural policy. This concession benefited Kor
an unprecedented burst of intellectual movemen
and religious activities. The young Korean w
tional Confucianism, western Christianity and
ways toward a new identity.11
Consumer advertising played a significant role
integration, urging Koreans to adopt Japanes
same time, consumer advertisements functioned
revealing that new technological, social, econo
under Japanese colonial rule influenced and sh
influenced by advertisements even though eco
only a small fraction of the population had enou
new goods.12
For this essay, I analysed the representation
mated their impact on Korean women's new
Japanese rule by analysing three main fe
Sinyeosung (New women, published betwe
1934), Sinkajeung (New family, published fr
1936), and Yeosung (Women, published betwe
1940). I then chose four main advertising pro
products and kitchen appliances, beauty and f
health care products and cultural goods. The diff
sumer products and women's images from the
summarised in Table 2.
The products within these areas were very n
mercial products for Korean women. Before
daily life products were made by artisans in
Japanese colonisation, the economy of Korea exp
linked to the mobilisation of Koreans to support
This is a critical difference in comparison to
countries outside Korea generally enjoyed pros
to the emergence of mass markets between
decade, Korean women's trends showed great
jection rather than copying styles introd

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 110 Consumer Advertising for Korean Women
Table
Table2.2.Types
Typesofof
consumer
consumer
products
products
and women's
and women's
images images
in advertisements
in advertisements

Food
Foodproducts
products&& Beauty Medical & Cultural goods

kitchen appliances & fashion health

Main image Korean, Japanese Western or Korean, Japanese Japanese or

or Western Japanese or Western Western

Working image Mother Professional Educated modern Diverse

girls

Fashion image Korean, Japanese Western or Western or Mixed Japanese

or Western Japanese Japanese Western-Korean

Age image -29 years -39 years -49 years Diverse

Trends Familial Material Sensual Masculinised

feminine beauty

Environment Home Work place Outside Diverse

Language for
Language for title Korean& &
title Korean Japanese Korean, Japanese, Mixed Western

Japanese Western & Japanese

Image type Picture Illustration Animated design Picture &

illustration

Advertisements portrayed the lifestyles of people and images of products to

create impact. The advertisements in the early 1930s also were affected by
the depressive economic situation. Advertisers eventually replaced colour and
illustrations with extensive text and a multiple of typefaces to grab attention.
Women in advertisements during the 1920s and 1930s frequently
appeared as modern and elegant; however, during the 1930s, images of
attractive, working and active women appeared more frequently.14 Women's
images were differentiated by product type, and westernised or Japanese
women's images frequently appeared for all types of early industrial products.
The Korean traditional women's image was in advertising for food products
and kitchen appliances in home and familial context, and a young Korean
women's picture usually depicted a good mother. The cover of the first
volume of Sinyeosung featured an uncoloured flower bottle, but over time
50 volumes of the 57 published presented women's images. Modern Korean
painters provided women's images for magazine covers and advertising.
Nosouhyun (1899-1978) worked as illustrator for Dongailbo and Chosunilbo-,
Ansukjou (1901-1950) worked for Dongailbo, Sidaeilbo (Times Daily
Newspaper) and Chosunilbo-, and Kimkyutaek (1906-1962) worked for
Saehanilbo (New Korea Daily Newspaper), as well as an editor for Chosunilbo.
Their illustrated advertisements vaunted different beauty, health, hygiene,
sanitary and food products, as well as kitchen appliances, all of which were
produced by modern industries, primarily in Japan. Even though many

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 Jung Sook BAE 111

Korean women initially resisted the coloni

acquired these early consumer products and u
lives.

While advertising surely was meant to sell products, advertisements served

indirectly to advance colonial cultural and political goals, for they displayed
the new women's image that the Japanese colonial regime wanted to pro
mote. And, unconsciously, the new products became symbolically attached to
the era's new modern woman's identity.

KOREAN 'NEW WOMEN'

From 1919 to 1931, the Japanese colonial government instituted 'Cultur

Rule' or 'Cultural Policy' in Korea. By looking at all the issues of the popular
Sinyeoseong magazine, as well as the issues of Chosunilbo and Dongailbo
analysed the prevalence of the New Woman in Korea. Before the publicat
Sinyeosung, Bouin (Spouse) began publication on June 1, 1922, but it
renamed Sinyeosung (New Woman) in September 1923. Bouin was edited
men who sought to enlighten uneducated Korean women to be good wi
While some poor women read the magazine, the majority of its readers wer
modern, educated women, and, as active, independent and liberal bein
they asked much of the magazine. Soon Bouin employed new female jour
ists, the magazine soon was renamed Sinyeosung. It became the most popular
and widely read Korean women's magazine, although, in the 1930s, on
10.5% of Korean women could read.16

I believe the role of images in the magazine was most significant for illiter
ate women who also were interested in modernity. In my collection of inter
views, one Mrs. Sim noted:
If we could have one volume of Sinyeosung in my village, located in the
region of south Chungchongdo, all girls in our village would like to see
this magazine. One of my girlfriends was the only female student in a pri
vate school in Seoul. So when she came to our village, she read articles of
Sinyeosung for us. We were happy to know that there were new modern
products .... I could buy face powder, which I kept for several years using
it only for important occasions.17
Sinyeosung was suspended for economic and political reasons for a period of
five years, beginning in November 1926. The suspension was lifted in
January 1931, and it was in print again until April 1934.
The oldest Korean newspaper was the Daehanmaeilsinbo (Great Korea
Daily News), which was founded in 1904 by Ernest Thomas Bethel
(1872-1909), a British journalist. Supported in his publishing activities by
Kojong, the last king of Chosun Lee Dynasty, Bethel and his colleague,

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112 Consumer Advertising for Korean Women

Korean journalist Yangkeetaek, published Daehanmaeilsinbo as well as the

English language Korea Daily News. Both papers disseminated the Korean
independence movement to other countries in the world, but, following his
death in 1909 and official annexation of Korea by Japan in 1910, the colonial
government took over the Daehanmaeilsinbo and renamed it Maeilsinbo
(Daily News). It became a sister publication to Gyeongseongilbo
(Gyeongseong Newspaper18), which was created in 1906 as the official
journal of the Japanese regime and was published in Japanese from 1907 to
1945.
Other Korean newspapers published inconsistently under colonialism.
Chosunilbo (Chosun Newspapers) was founded on March, 1920, but was sus
pended four times by the colonial regime: in August 1920, in September
1920, in June 1923 and in May 1927. Dongailbo (East Asia Newsapers), was
founded on April 1, 1920, but was also suspended four times: in September
1920, in March 1926, in April 1930 and in August 1930. Both papers began
publishing again after Korean independence in 1945 and became, and
remain today, the main newspapers in Korea. Finally, there were other news
papers such as Chosuntognipsinmun (Chosun Independence Newspaper) and
Tognipsinmun (Independence Newspaper) , which militated in favour of the
independence movement, and Bou/kyosibosa (Buddhist Newspaper) which
championed Buddhism. But among these, I chose only Chosunilbo and
Dongailbo, for they were written in Korean and popular among Koreans.
The New Woman seemingly was omnipresent, either in the form of his
torical figures or in figurai representations, and this was linked intimately to
the experience of modernity in colonial Korea. The representation of the
New Korean Woman in numerous discourses, essays, opinions and reports,
as well as illustrations of leisure and culture, help explain how the New
Woman took shape. The New Woman's image was constructed so as to situ
ate her within a larger historical context, and she appeared globally, though
she had different social meanings. Yet, there was confusion among the dif
ferent concepts of'New Woman' (Sinyeosung), 'Modern Girl' (Modern Girl),
and the 'Good Wife' (Yangcheo).
The term 'Modern Girl' existed not as a figure completely different from
the New Woman, but as a name given for the naughty New Woman. This
conflation becomes more apparent when we consider the differences between
the Japanese Modern Girl and the Korean Modern Girl. In fact, the major
ity of Korean women did not have the economic wherewithal to indulge
themselves, as did the Japanese modern girls, with the adoption of western
clothes: high heels, hats, short skirts and budded hair and other new
coiffures. If the Modern Girl was the name given to the naughty New
Woman, then the Good Wife was presented as the 'upright and desirable'
aspect of the New Woman. The Modern Girl and the Good Wife not only

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 Jung Sook BAE 113

represented distinct aspects of the New Wom

nifies through which the contributors to the m
and Japanese culture to Korean women.
Most of the men participating in the construct
course were the new intellectuals, and theirs
Male editors and contributors of Gaebyeok Pr
zine Sinyeoseong, had a crucial role in constr
New Woman image. Their objective was a larg
and not simply to provide a forum about women
new Korean male intelligentsia conceptualised
wardness of the Korean masses, as represented b
could be enlightened and mobilised to transfo
of this enlightenment were neither consisten
1920s to the end of the 1930s, and, as such, th
Woman also varied, depending on how she w
either as a pioneer in the enlightenment movem
a vain member of the bourgeoisie, a female en
with modern knowledge or a wife with equal s

IMPACT OF ADVERTISING ON KOREAN CONSUMER

PRODUCTS

The statistics for the growth rate of Korean industrial production after 1
is significantly large when compared to the period before Japanese co
tion, when Korean people lived very poorly.19 Under Japanese militar
trol, forced labour of even very young girls, mothers carrying their bab
their backs and aged women was common (Figure 1). While a great de
been written about the oral testimonies of former Korean comfort wome
in relation to Japanese colonialism, it is very rare to find testim

. -

I il
n

Figure 1. An image of Korean women's colonial life in 1939. By courtesy of Mrs. Kim Insouk, who was 25
years old on the first line, 2nd right.

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 114 Consumer Advertising for Korean Women

concerning ordinary Korean women's daily lives under Japanese occupation.

While consumer product advertisements are well documented,20 actual data
on consumers' perceptions of the advertising is rare. Life under Japanese
colonial rule is a topic about which surviving Koreans do not want to speak,
and, even as the number of surviving witnesses decreases over time, it
remains more or less taboo.* Nevertheless, advertising, in conjunction with
the social and economic changes during Japanese occupation, certainly had a
substantial impact on Korean women's cultural identity.
I analysed advertisements of the issue of the 15th of each month in the
Sinyeoseong, between 1923 and 1934, and in the Chosunilbo and Dongailbo
between the 1920s and 1930s. (The year and volume number for the
Sinyeoseong advertisements are tabulated in Table 3.) Altogether, I selected
for analysis the 487 images that included women's images out of a total
of 2,489 advertisements in Sinyeosung, Chosunilbo and Dongailbo. I

Table 3. Sinyeosung's publication year and volumes consulted tor women's images in
advertisements*

Publication
Publicationyear
year
Volume
Volume
& Number
& Number
for women's
for women's
images images
1923 Vol.1Vol.1
N°2 N°2

1924 Vol.2 N°3 ,Vol.2

Vol.2N°3 N°5
, Vol.2, N°5
Vol.2 N°6
, Vol.2 N°6, , Vol.2 N°8
Vol.2 N°8

1925 Vol.3 N°1,Vol.3

Vol.3 N°2,N°2,
N°1, Vol.3 Vol.3
Vol.3 N°3, Vol.3
N°3, Vol.3 N°4, N°4, Vol.3
Vol.3 N°5, Vol.3N°5, Vol.3
N°6, Vol.3 N°8, N°6, Vol.3 N°8,
Vol.3N°10,
Vol.3 No10, Vol.3
Vol.3 N°11 N°11

1926 Vol.4 N°1,Vol.4

Vol.4 N°2,N°2,
N°1, Vol.4 Vol.4
Vol.4 N°3, Vol.4
N°3, Vol.4 N°4, N°4, Vol.4
Vol.4 N°5, Vol.4N°5, Vol.4
N°6, Vol.4 N°7, N°6, Vol.4 N°7,
Vol.4
Vol.4N°8,
N°8,Vol.4 N°9, N°9,
Vol.4 Vol.4 N°10
Vol.4 N°10

1931 Vol.5 N°1,Vol.5

Vol.5 N°2,N°2,
N°1, Vol.5 Vol.5
Vol.5 N°3, Vol.5
N°3, Vol.5 N°4, N°4, Vol.5
Vol.5 N°5, Vol.5N°5, Vol.5
N°6, Vol.5 N°7, N°6, Vol.5 N°7,
Vol.5
Vol.5N°8,
N°8,Vol.5
Vol.5
N°9, N°9,
Vol.5 N°10,
Vol.5Vol.5
N°10,N°11,
Vol.5
Vol.5N°11,
N°12 Vol.5 N°12

1932 Vol.6 N°1,Vol.6

Vol.6 N°2,N°2,
N°1, Vol.6 Vol.6
Vol.6 N°3, Vol.6
N°3, Vol.6 N°4, N°4, Vol.6
Vol.6 N°5, Vol.6N°5, Vol.6
N°6, Vol.6 N°7, N°6, Vol.6 N°7,
Vol.6
Vol.6N°8,
N°8,Vol.6
Vol.6
N°9, N°9,
Vol.6 N°10,
Vol.6Vol.6
N°10,N°11,
Vol.6
Vol.6N°11,
N°12 Vol.6 N°12

1933 Vol.7 N°1,Vol.7

Vol.7 N°2,N°2,
N°1, Vol.7 Vol.7
Vol.7 N°3, Vol.7
N°3, Vol.7 N°4, N°4, Vol.7
Vol.7 N°5, Vol.7 N°5, Vol.7
N°6, Vol.7 N°7, N°6, Vol.7 N°7,
Vol.7
Vol.7N°8,
N°8,Vol.7
Vol.7
N°9, N°9,
Vol.7 N°10,
Vol.7Vol.7
N°10,N°11,
Vol.7
Vol.7N°11,
N°12 Vol.7 N°12

1934 Vol.8 N°1, Vol.8

Vol.8 N°2,
N°1, Vol.8 Vol.8
N°2, N°3
Vol.8 N°3

•The total number of extant edited volumes of Sinyeosung Is estimated to be 73, but for my study, I found only 57
volumes.

* When interviewing elderly Koreans who had lived under Japanese colonial rule, I regularly observed
that most of them did not wish to talk about their life in colonial Korea. Indeed, it was not easy to get
interviews, and the establishment of spontaneous conversation was extremely rare. In comparison, I
conducted much easier interviews with French people who had lived under German occupation dur
ing the World War II. See, J.S. BAE, 'Foreign Occupation and Childhood: Cross Cultural Study
between German Occupation of France and Korea under Japanese Rule during the 2nd World War',
in Making Better Childhood (Seoul, 2011), 23-38.

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 Jung Sook BAE 115

established some product categories, among th

medical materials and drugs, books, records,
cial services, household appliances and social s
among these product categories were medical
487 women's images; 236 images), beauty fashi
tion (26.5%; 129 images), and, if we add toget
products (18.2%; 89 images) and household ap
these household products were equal to the nu
beauty and fashion products.
Advertising focused mainly on the basic needs
ticularly noticeable when Korean consumer ad
advertising in western countries during the 1
women's images in American advertisements
were mainly for home appliances, cars or car-
gasoline and motor oil. Plymouth, Chevrolet,
car brands frequently appeared in a classical s
manufacturers put more emphasis on style a
sumers.21 The second most frequent product c
ing was insurance and financial services, par
people suffered substantially from a shortage of
The economic and social conditions that
Japanese colonial rule were reflected in the ad
zines. Moreover, female consumption advertise
symbolic functions, while those in the 1930s
tions. Consequently, the use of advertisements
and literal, was different in these two eras. The
tification, description, comparison and demo
advertisements in the 1930s, while, in the 1920s,
bolic functions, such as association, metaphor, st
So, what was the impact of advertisements o
tion behaviour during this era? The modernisatio
Japanese colonisation generated new desires, ex
ture inherent in people and the activation of u
colonial modernity was also an issue of colonia
spread of capitalist market principles. For wome
tial items of modernisation were the new ma
and products for health, beauty and food.
Figure 2 illustrates cultural assimilation dur
female images show Japanese women dressed i
western-style dress, but the images never sho
explain that the women could be clean and be
and soaps; they could also clear their skin of

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116 Consumer Advertising for Korean Women

Figure2.
Figure2.Beauty
BeautyProduct
Product
Advertisement
Advertisement
in Chosunilbo,
in Chosunilbo,
15 June151926.
June 1926.

the 1930s, the texts of advertisements were written more and more in
Japanese. As Figure 1 illustrates, almost all letters in the text were in the
Korean alphabet Han-geul in the 1920s. But, as Figure 2 shows, the text of
the 1930s was written in Japanese, not in Korean. There were very few
Korean letters in 1930s' advertisements.
There were two types of pictures in advertisements for Korean women:
illustrations and photographs. The illustrations of female images more fre
quently appeared in the 1920s than in the 1930s. More than half of the
images analysed were illustrated by one single woman, and advertisements
more often used illustrations to make emotional appeals to consumers,
because symbolic representations in an illustration accomplished this goal
more effectively. In contrast, literal representations used photographic images
to fulfil rational and practical goals. These advertisements, as illustrated in
Figure 3, explained how women could be cleaner by using new western soaps
rather than older, traditional soaps. The female image is that of a very young
modern woman with a western hairstyle.
The most important food product in Korean advertisements under
Japanese rule was Ajinomoto, a glutamine acid soda that enhances palatabil
ity of foods. Kikunae Ikeda (1864-1936), who was a chemistry professor at
the Imperial University of Tokyo, invented this chemical seasoning product
in 1908. He founded Suzuki in 1909, a company to sell Ajinomoto, and, by
1917, was mass producing and advertising the product.23 Ikeda established an
'empire of taste' throughout the whole East Asian market in the 1930s,
assimilating tastes far beyond Japan. His company's advertising of Ajinomoto

-a

ijj»'î Ü.1:í5 S %
IJH'Jj» h'jil hf«Il! V I
îlîlliît «!*!< ïliîl ¡4 *
JU-Dh-lf
Figure3.
Figure3.Skin
Skintreatment
treatment
product
product
advertisement
advertisement
in Dongailbo,
in Dongailbo,
15 October
15 October
1939. 1939.

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 Jung Sook BAE 117

beyond Japan was a form of colonisation and signi

degrade and discriminate indigenous cultures by ad
superior. In the world of taste, the continuatio
idealised desire created a colonial legacy. This was p
Under Japanese colonial rule in Korea, Ajinom
distributed widely for various media. The offi
colonial government's newspaper Gyeongseon
most important medium of advertisement for colo
in Japanese and Korean between September, 19
which it was written only in Japanese. Official
tion, including new Japanese products and their
seminated by this newspaper, but it was difficult f
the Japanese text. Other newspapers advertisin
oldest newspaper in Korea, Daehanmaeilsinbo
Dongailbo.
Targeting the Korean market, these four newspapers and female maga
zines carried advertisements for Ajinomoto, all of which began with a
description of the product. Under the heading, 'Ideal seasoning, a true revo
lution in food', the advertisement in the female magazine Sinyeosung
explained the ingredients, ¡
who invented it, its usage J* ^
» t * z>
and its effects on food. It ^ 4 íi
also noted that Ajinimoto M Vl a-' m *' it '' S
was the first chemical sea- [f ^ t ,A
soning in the world, and it Hm# *' V Ï- 4
particularly emphasised
the product's economy ^ : if À
and harmlessness. The
advertisements contained | '
few images of a man or of ,y ■/*■' J <
a woman with a man, but
in an advertisement in iyH ■ vr *
the 1930s (Figure 4), a gt & ACT v ' •
woman dressed in western * - , « ■ , •j"*'*v V
style inclined to a man * (
dressed in western clothes, f • - \ »
j r A- Z y - 1 s
and a can or Ajinomoto 0i , „•
sat near them on the floor,

The text explains that . ^ -gpsS^&a»».' . «yjg* ,44 ^

young people could enjoy J»sjLnjjje
the happy life with good i *"" ^SJWt \vS
Figure
taste by using Ajinomoto; Figure 4. 4. Ajinimoto
Ajinimoto Advertisement
Advertisement in Sinyeosung,
in Sinyeosung, AprilApril
1939. 19

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 118 Consumer Advertising for Korean Women

this image had an important symbolic function. Prior to the 1930s, it was
almost unthinkable for Korean men and women to meet in the same public
space. The advertisement treated Ajinomoto, the chemical seasoning, as a
symbol of a new young, romantically happy lifestyle.
In the 1930s, demonstration and identification became the two main
functions of advertisements, in part because consumers generally considered
product prices more than anything else. The emphasis on prices by con
sumers may have been because of a lack of money to purchase products, and
the time spent on purchasing decisions increased while enthusiasm to search
for upscale and sophisticatedly advertised products declined. Advertisements
tried to give a direct and simple message. Advertisers had to identify what
their products were, describe as many advantages as possible and distinguish
the features of their products from others.
Advertising focused on social needs, especially during the time of big
changes that came with forced colonisation. Advertising played an important
part in reinforcing the stereotypes representing women. It aimed also at
creating an emotional link between consumers and products based on key
cultural values, such as strong individuality and commitment to social values.
It added value to ensure that consumers would not purchase a product based
only on price.
Studies on women in colonial Korea have focused on the new women's
movement centring on intellectuals and pioneers; however, the problem with
these studies is that they reflect a unilateral acceptance of modernity by
Koreans when it came to the question of tradition versus modernity.24 In
fact, acceptance was quite complicated; modernity is often understood as
westernisation, therefore suggesting that tradition belongs only to the
indigenous.
Because of the influence of Confucianism, the Chosun dynasty empha
sised humanity, ethical morality, righteousness and loyalty. Indeed, the
Japanese occupation may be said to have deprived Koreans of their chance to
modernise.25 A sense of cultural discontinuity between Korea's traditional
culture and modern culture arose as a result of the influence of Japanese
colonial rule in Korea. Public discourse about modernity was introduced by
new media sources, such as newspapers and magazines, spreading awareness
of consumer ideas and consumption behaviour, which symbolised a transi
tion from traditional Korea to an era of modernity. Reception of, and resist
ance to, new standards of consumer culture emerged along with Western
images associated with those standards.
'New Women in Korea' was a category used broadly to distinguish early
twentieth-century educated intellectual women in Korea from the more tra
ditional Korean women. But the 'New Women' activists, more precisely, were
a group of women who challenged the moral system of Confucian patriarchy,

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 Jung Sook BAE 119

using a new self-identity that they crafted th

new consumerism in Korea.26 With colonisati
in magazines were represented mostly by Japane
These images played an important role in cr
women and for female roles in society while i
tion behaviour.

CONCLUSION: IDENTITY AND CONTINUITY?

The characteristics of early Korean consumer products became an e

basis of modern Korean nationalism, developing, as it did, in reac
Japanese imperialism. By using some early industrial products, K
moved unconsciously closer to the Japanese modern lifestyle,
colonised Koreans, encouraged by a rising anti-imperialist sentimen
initiated an anti-colonial independence movement. On 1 March
Korean women gained the right to express their will and presented a un
demonstration of independence.27 Generating nationalist sentime
movement managed to incorporate people who traditionally were e
from political and social participation.
Korean women in the 1920s and 1930s were proud of the new con
knowledge that they gained from consumer advertisements. They
relate their new, modern cultural identity to the new lifestyle represe
different images and texts in consumer advertisements. However, the c
identity of Korean women was not a simple matter of transplanting W
or Japanese gender ideologies, but one in which Korea's own histor
dition under a non-Western imperialist power shaped the nation's
politics and the discourses of its women. However, the identity and
tions of modern educated Korean women were subjected to revision
raised disturbing questions about what it takes to be authentic human b
and women and, simultaneously, to be truly loyal citizens.
Korean women's images in advertisements under the colonial regim
initially for commercial needs, but they had a colonial context, especial
relation to the Japanese politics of colonial assimilation. Even if nu
Japanised modern girls' images were disseminated by newspapers an
zines, it seems that modern Korean women were less attracted by J
images than by westernised occidental images, which seemed less op
their own values. Japanese politics of cultural assimilation did not succe
Korea, and I believe Korean consumers in fact perceived the forced i
tion in advertising images that were strongly related to political ideolo
The early products introduced under Japanese rule used women's
to advertise them - pictures, illustrations and drawings. Attractive,
images set in modern environments were created to introduce new cons

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120 Consumer Advertising for Korean Women

products. Even if a majority of women could not buy these new products,
they dreamed of having them in the future. Thus, new articles of daily life,
such as beauty cream in her handbag, became a symbol of modernity for
the Korean woman of the 1920s and 1930s, and they remain a symbol of
modernity today.

NOTES

1 All transliterated Korean words are in italic.

2 Y.O. Park, 'Study on New Women in 1920: Focus on Modern Girl and New Women', in W
History and Today (Seoul, 2001).
3 J.S. BAE, 'Aperçu historique de la résistance coréenne face à l'occupation japonaise', Cahi
Récits, N" 6, (Belfort, 2008), 193-229.
4 H.H. Lee,Japanese Politics in Korea and its impact on Korean's conscience, Sinwon Mounhwasa
1991).
5 Sinyeosung (New Women) Vol. 5, N° 11 (author's translation). Also see Sinyeosung (New Women)
Vol. 1, N" 9; Vol. 3, N" 1; Vol. 3, N° 5; Vol. 4, N° 2.
6 G. McCracken, 'Culture and Consumption: A Theoretical Account of the Structure and
Movement of the Cultural Meaning of Consumer Goods', Journal of Consumer Research, 13:1
(1986): 71-84.
7 A.F.C. Wallace, Culture and Personality (New York, 1965); G. Hofstede, et al., Cultures and
Organisations: Software of the Mind (London, 1991).
8 L. Rainwater and W.M. Yancy, The Moynihan Report and The Politics of Controversy (Cambridge,
MA, 1967); J. Alter, 'The Long Shadow of Slavery', Newsweek (December 8, 1997).
9 Y.S. Chang, 'Women in a Confucian Society: The Case of Chosun Dynasty Korea (1392-1910)',
Asian and Pacific Quarterly of Cultural and Social Affairs, 14:2 (1982): 24-42.
10 J.S. BAE and S.H. Park, 'Les mouvements de femmes coréennes durant la colonisation japonaise:
contexte, caractéristiques et représentations', in Corée-France, Regards croise's sur deux sociétés face à
l'occupation étrangère (Belfort, 2013), 220-232.
11 M.E. Caprio, Japanese Assimilation Politicies in Colonial Korea, 1910-1945 (Washington, 2009);
S.H. Cheon, 'The New Cultural Movement for Korean Women: Women's Studies in early 1920s',
in Korean Women and Culture (Seoul, 1998).
12 K.S. Kim, 'Colonial Political and Economic Development', Research of Economics, 59: 2 (2011):
143-173.

13 M. Kimura,'The Economics ofjapanese Imperialism in Korea, 1910-1939', The Economic History

Review, 48:3 (1995).
14 Sinyeosung (New Women) Vol. 1 to vol. 6.
15 J.S. BAE and S.H. Park, 'Les mouvements de femmes coréennes durant la colonisation japonaise:
contexte, caractéristiques et représentations', in Corée-France (n. 10 above), 205-219.
16 J.H. Chon, Modem Korean Reading (Seoul, 2003).
17 J.S. BAE, 'Interview with Mrs. Sim', in Testimony (Seoul, 2009) (translation by author).
18 Gyeong Seong is the ancient name of Seoul between 1910 and 1946.
19 T.J. Lee, Economic Politics of Japan in the Colonial Korea and Taiwan (Yonsei Economic Research
Institute Workshop, December, 2010), 1-52.
20 J.M. LEE, Korean History viewed by Advertisments (Seoul, 2004); K.J. Lee, Korean Society and
Advertisements (Seoul, 2006).
21 M. Ramsey, 'Selling and Social Status: Woman and Automobile Advertisements from
1910-1920', Women 13 Language, 28:1 (2005): 1.

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 Jung Sook BAE 121

22 R. Marchand. Advertising the American Dream: Making Wa

1985).
23 B. Lindemann, Y. Ogiwara and Y. Ninomiya, 'Letter: The Discovery of Umami', Chem. Senses, 27
(Oxford, 2002), 843-844.
24 E.S. Kim, et al. The History of Great Korean Women, Vol. 1 (Seoul, 2004); Y.O. Park, 'Study on
Modern Korean Women's Group Movement in 1920s', in Hankuk Keundae Yeosung Yeonkou
(Seoul, 1987), 252-257; Y.O. Park, Historical Line of Korean Women's Modernization (Seoul, 2001);
K.M. Cho, 'Study on Women's Social Group in 1920s', in Research of Korean History (Seoul, 1992),
67-73.

25 H. Yim, 'Cultural Identity and Cultural Policy in South Korea', The International Journal of
Cultural Policy, 8:1 (2002), 37-48.
27 H.J. Lee, The Korean Women's Movement - The Past and Today (Seoul, 1989).
27 J. A. Kang, Modern History of Korea (Seoul, 1990).

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