Hyundai's 'sexy' i30 ads drive criticism
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From underwear to cleavage, models from Hyundai Motor’s Hot Hatch i30 commercial highlight their “sexiness.” / Courtesy of Facebook
By Ko Dong-hwan
Netizens have criticized Hyundai Motor’s new “Hot Hatch i30” commercials for using women’s “sexy” bodies to sell the cars.
Two video commercials released on
on Friday and Saturday highlighted women’s bodies and underwear in portraying the fun in driving the hatchback and its streamlined design.
The Friday ad showed a woman accidentally revealing her underwear when her skirt is blown away by a passing i30, getting her clothes wet after the car drives through water next to her, and getting excited inside the car while wearing a sleeveless tank top that shows her cleavage.
There were more than 40 comments posted, many of them critical, saying: “Hyundai might have confused ‘hot’ with ‘obscene’;” “This is as far as a Korean major automaker’s ad can go,” and “Misogynic, sexually offensive and disastrous.”
One media report said: “Is Hyundai Motor incapable of making ads without using women’s bodies?”
The “Hot Hatch Girl” poses with the i30 at Some Gavit on Sept. 7. / Yonhap
In the other commercial, several body parts of an unidentified woman in silhouette wearing tight training pants and a tank top are portrayed as those of the i30. The commercial is part of a Hyundai competition that challenges netizens to guess who the “Hot Hatch Girl” is.
The post said the “Hot Hatch Girl” will demonstrate the car’s performance at the Hot Hatch Festival at Jamsil Sports Complex in southern Seoul on Sept. 24. The woman also appeared at the car’s launch in a racing driver’s uniform and helmet.