Opinion - The Korea Times

Buyology or KORUS FTA

By Jason Lim In his new book, ``Buyology,'' branding guru Martin Lindstrom tells the story of three main sponsors of American Idol, one of the most popular TV shows in history. Coke, Cingular and Ford each pay $26 million a year to advertise on the show. However, research showed that while Coke was very memorable and Cingular somewhat more memorable after the show, Ford actually became less memorable. What happened? According to Lindstrom, Ford didn't integrate its presence in the narrative of the show. It bought air time for its commercials, but its products didn't become a part of the everyday processes of the show, unlike Coke, which had widely integrated its products into the workings of the show itself by having judges drink out of Coke bottles, having Coke bottle shaped couches, etc. In short, Lindstrom's results showed that consumers ``have no memory of brands that don't play an integral part in the storyline of a program. They become white noise, easily, instantaneously forgotten.'' This is what's happening to KORUS FTA in America. As a long time Korea watcher, on

Dec 8, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Story of Obamas English

By Jason Lim The whole world is abuzz with Obama's election victory. The pundits are especially tripping over themselves, saluting Obama's eloquence with the English language as the key to his success, especially delighting in comparing his command of English with Sarah Palin's lack thereof. However, technical expertise with rhetoric does not necessarily make you eloquent. It will make you articulate. You must bring something more. Ultimately, Obama is eloquent because he knows how to tell a good story, not because his pronunciation is precise or he knows how to avoid a dangling modifier. The first time I heard Obama speak was in Professor Marshall Ganz's Public Narrative class at Harvard Kennedy School. He played Barack Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention. The speech was titled, ``The Audacity of Hope," and it was electrifying. I actually compare it to the ``I Have a Dream" speech. From the palpable silence that I felt in the classroom afterwards, I don't think I was the only one who felt this way. Why were we so affected? That was the purpose of the clas

Nov 24, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Care for Handicapped People

By Jason Lim Although I left Korea when I was in the fourth grade, I went to one of the best elementary schools in Korea at the time, Kyungbok Elementary School. Admittedly, it was a school for children of the privileged, with chauffeured cars dropping off and picking up children in front of the school gates every day. I recall that we even had a decent zoo on our campus, with gaggles of children screaming in delight as a peacock flashed its ostentatious tail daily in the afternoon. I am mentioning this because my Kyungbok schooling points to two facts that intersect in today's Korean society. One, I don't recall seeing a single handicapped child at Kyungbok, at least not one that studied with the rest of us ``normal'' kids. I am sure that even privileged families have handicapped children, but I certainly didn't see them in my elementary school. Two, many of my ``normal'' classmates have gone on to become leaders in Korean society in many fields, including politics and construction. This means that dealing with handicapped children was never a part of us normal kids' f

Oct 27, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Kim Jong-il as Hirohito

By Jason Lim The good news is that the U.S. was able to hammer out a verification agreement with North Korea by removing it from the list of terrorism sponsoring states. The bad news is that North Korea, as long as Kim Jong-il remains as the head of state, will never give up its nuclear arsenal. Although the wheels of the six-party talks keep creaking along, pushed forward by the indefatigable Christopher Hill, it will eventually run into that immovable mountain: Kim Jong-il's need to hold on to his nuclear arsenal to ensure the survival of his regime. Kim's regime has staked its political legitimacy firmly on being a nuclear weapons power, using it to engineer the personal prestige and domestic credibility necessary to govern a country. And in North Korea, Kim's personal prestige and the government's political legitimacy go hand in hand because North Korea is, in effect, an absolute monarchy best exemplified by Louis XIV's famous statement, ``I am the state." Most experts agree that North Korea is not a conventional military threat anymore; the only real credible self

Oct 13, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Lessons of Korean Cupid

By Jason Lim Ok, I did it. I joined a Korean online dating site. But it was purely for the articles, I swear. Wait, no, they don't have articles. Ok then, it was purely for my research for this column. Yeah, that's the ticket: research. Actually, the first time I came across the banner ad for an online dating site for those interested in dating Korean's, I scoffed at it without even a second look, even though I had to admit the model on the ad looked ridiculously pretty. But I knew that if she represented the caliber of actual members on the site, I also had a bridge in Brooklyn that I could sell. It was all a ruse. Then this same ad kept popping up seemingly every time I used my Google email account. As everyone knows, Google has a weird ad-matching algorithm that psychoanalyzes your email traffic and shows ads matching possible interests that you didn't even know you had. Therefore, the omnipresence of the same Korean online dating ad was admittedly disconcerting. Was I sending out subconscious messages that were somehow triggering this? How could I escape from this id p

Sep 29, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Buddha and Conservatism

By Jason Lim David Brooks, a New York Times columnist, quoted Barry Goldwater, the father of modern American conservative movement, in his recent column titled, ``The Social Animal," as saying, ``Every man, for his individual good and for the good of his society, is responsible for his own development.'' He continued, ``The choices that govern his life are choices that he must make; they cannot be made by any other human being … Conservatism's first concern will always be: Are we maximizing freedom?'' In refuting Goldwater's individualist description of human nature, Brooks points to cognitive scientists who have shown that human ``decision-making is powerfully influenced by our social contexts ― by the frames, biases and filters that are shared subconsciously by those around … Geneticists have shown that our behavior is influenced by our ancestors and the exigencies of the past." He wrote, ``Behavioral economists have shown the limits of the classical economic model, which assumes that individuals are efficient, rational, utility-maximizing creatures. Psychologists have

Sep 15, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

LPGA Masquerade

By Jason Lim LPGA made a media splash of the worst kind when it announced it will require members to speak English starting in 2009. Those who have been members for two years will face suspension if they can't pass an oral evaluation of their English skills. The rules are effective immediately for new players. Libba Galloway, the deputy commissioner, defended the policy by saying, ``We live in a sports-entertainment environment. For an athlete to be successful in the sports entertainment market we live in, they need to be great performers on and off the course, and being able to communicate effectively with sponsors and fans is a big part of this." Of course, this rule supposedly does not target the Korean players, who comprise 45 out of 121 international players, and have been dominating the leader board for the last few years. ``Absolutely not,'' Galloway said, ``this applies to all our membership.'' Then how come the LPGA officials called for a mandatory meeting during the Safeway Classic especially for the Korean players? If this rule applies to all players, why di

Sep 1, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Ironies of Olympic Proportions

By Jason Lim Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympics Committee, said the following: ``May joy and good fellowship reign, and in this manner, may the Olympic torch pursue its way through ages, increasing friendly understanding among nations, for the good of humanity always more enthusiastic, more courageous and more pure." In short, the Olympic ideals places sports as a tool for international goodwill and peace, hoping that such cultural interactions and sharing will pave the way towards the creation of a common bond of mutual understanding and respect that will strengthen the constructive network of humanity among different people and nations. I guess that no one told the Russians. As the Olympics Opening Ceremony was unfolding in all its incredible splendor, with incredible fireworks, flying scrolls, and exquisite choreography, Russia was busy invading Georgia ― with incredible firepower, flying bombers, and exquisitely choreographed invasion routes. The irony is three-fold. First and most obviously, the Russians started a war during the Olymp

Aug 18, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Vincent Chin’s Lasting Whisper

By Jason Lim In Detroit, on the night of June 19, 1982, Vincent Chin was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat by two auto plant workers enraged that the success of Japanese cars was threatening their jobs. It didn't matter that Vincent was a Chinese American. To them, all Asians looked the same and shared the blame. Neither of the murderers served jail time. As Vincent Chin slipped into a coma from which he would never awaken, he whispered to a friend, ``It's not fair." What does the tragic murder of a Chinese American more than 25 years ago have to do with Korean Americans today? Everything. America is often held up as the model ``melting pot," with countless ethnicities living in harmony. Such stereotype is true to a certain extent. However, when we look beneath the surface, we see that huge ethnic gulfs exist, with many minorities building separate ethnic enclaves that often cater exclusively to their own groups and are beholden to their traditional prejudices and cultural chauvinism. Asians, especially, seem to have eagerly planted seeds of the traditional pre

Aug 4, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Change Management for Korea

By Jason Lim It has been only six months since President Lee Myung-bak took office, and yet I would be willing to bet that his tenure probably has already inspired more ``expert" pontifications and debates on leadership than all his predecessors combined. In fact, he might have already single-handedly jumpstarted a whole leadership industry in Korea, a sector worth about $50 billion in the United States today. In this way, at least, MB is living up to his billing as a business-friendly President. Most of the leadership debates have so far centered on President Lee's failures in personal leadership, everything from his arbitrary decision making to ``follow me" leadership style, apparently forged from his days at Hyundai Engineering and Construction. However, the fact that all these troubles emerged during what should have been his honeymoon period leads me to believe that this is less a matter of personal leadership failure than mistakes in the management process of a presidential transition. Managing a presidential transition is a Herculean task, presenting plenty of oppor

Jul 21, 2008By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Read more

Buyology or KORUS FTA

Story of Obamas English

Care for Handicapped People

Kim Jong-il as Hirohito

Lessons of Korean Cupid

Buddha and Conservatism

LPGA Masquerade

Ironies of Olympic Proportions

Vincent Chin’s Lasting Whisper

Change Management for Korea

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