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Shamelessly corny Kim Bo-sung strikes gold
By Ko Dong-hwan
By Ko Dong-hwan
As an actor, Kim Bo-sung is a limited talent. He has exactly two skills ― an exaggerated laugh and a fake macho posture ― and this keeps him in comedy roles such as bumbling cops and brain-dead thugs.
But Kim is treated like royalty in the world of advertisement where companies find his ludicrously corny personality as a perfect temple to promote a product.
Kim’s recent advertisement for rice beverage Birak Sikhye, where he is seen punching rice bags and jars, knocking coffee and sports drinks off other people’s hands and making them drink Sikhye, all while shouting “eui-ree!’’ (loyalty), went viral.
Kim is pleasantly surprised by the popularity of the advertisement. But he also says with dead seriousness that he hopes the advertisement will inspire people to be loyal to their friends, family and community.
Perhaps, this is the essence of Kim’s charm ― he never seems to break out of his character to the point where you wonder whether the character is really himself.
“I am grateful that people love the advertisement where I repeatedly shout `eui-ree’ and create jokes out of it,’’ Kim said in an interview with SBS television.
“But I don’t want to be the center of attention. I sincerely hope people to care about eui-ree and justice.”
Kim said at 10 ten advertisers have contacted him since the airing of the Birak Sikhye ad, but said he has no plans to do a similar one for a different product as that would be over-doing it.
On Wednesday, Kim was appointed an ambassador for humanitarian non-government organization World Vision International, which will take the actor to Africa to help fight hunger and support children.
At the inaugural ceremony, the actor didn’t forget to mention that eui-ree is also about sharing.