South Korean garlic video ad roasted over purported obscenity

SEOUL, South Korea: A rural South Korean town is getting roasting over its movie ad on garlic that some maqui berry farmers say stinks associated with obscenity and has also sexually objectified the particular agricultural product.

The controversy encompases a 30-second video clip that had been posted on the YouTube channel to get Hongseong County, a small central-west South Korean town of about one hundred, 000 people known for its local “Hongsan” garlic, for about 2 yrs.

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The video shows a woman coming in contact with the thigh of a man named “Hongsan” with a full garlic head mask and saying words like “very thick” and “hard” to apparently describe the quality of the local garlic. It’s the parody of a famous scene from a 2004 hit Korean movie titled Once Upon A Time In Senior high school .

The spicy ad, which usually reportedly generated about 190, 000 views, had been largely held underground, but started to take root in the larger public in order to was aired upon electronic billboards at a Seoul express coach terminal and a downtown street in the central city of Daejeon last month ahead of the garlic’s release.

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One particular farmer who noticed the video notified some farmers’ groups, while South Korean mass media also began reporting about it, leaving an undesirable taste in householder’s mouths.

“We can’t repress our own astonishment, ” stated a joint statement issued by the nearby branches of 2 major farmers’ companies – the Korean Peasants League and the Korean Women Peasants Association. “The video clip offended the people exactly who watched it plus dealt a big whack to the image of the particular agricultural product that farmers have laboriously grown. ”

Calling the video “suggestive” and “inappropriate”, the particular statement said it “sexually objectified” garlic clove.

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The farmers’ groups asked Hongseong in order to apologise, punish these responsible for the video creation and formulate steps on how to prevent similar occurrences. Shin Ji Youn, an official at the Korean Women Peasants Association, said the farmers’ groups asked Hongseong to respond to their requests by Aug ten.

Hongseong officials said Wednesday they’ve withdrawn the video using their YouTube channel and had stopped airing this on the billboards last week. The county hasn’t issued any recognized statement on the problem, and officials mentioned they are discussing learn how to respond to the farmers’ requests.

Region officials said they will formally changed the name of their local garlic to “Hongseong” right after their county title in January.

Many South Koreans believe garlic, among the essential ingredients in Korean cuisine, boost stamina. Some believe it can improve men’s sexual functions as well.

During the 2018 Winter Olympics within Pyeongchang, South Korea, the country’s women’s curling team gained the nickname associated with “Garlic Girls” – four of the team’s five members originated from another rural city known for its own famed garlic – because they had a fairy-tale set you back win the silver precious metal medal. – AP