Handing out leaflets has scarce effect

By Bahk Eun-ji, Kim Bo-eun, Jung Min-ho

At noon on a Thursday near City Hall, in downtown Seoul, office workers stream from their buildings to head out for lunch.

Kim Soo-hyun, 56, stands on the street-side, offering leaflets promoting a fitness club nearby. Most of the passers-by barely even look at her as they walk past.

"Honestly, it depends on the day," Kim said. "Some days more people take the leaflets and, on other days, less."

Kim stands at her spot for two hours around lunchtime. It is a tough job, standing there for hours, getting dismissed or ignored by most of the passers-by, she said.

"But I do it for the money."

Contrary to what many in Korea believe, Kim said her wage does not depend on how many leaflets she distributes. As long as she is out there, trying to give the advertisements to people, she gets her paid by the hour. The leaflets that are not taken go back to the fitness club.

"I get 18,000 won for two hours. It's actually 20,000 won but the agency that recruits people gets 2,000 won," said Kim, who does the same work elsewhere as well.

When asked, Kim said she believed the method is effective advertising.

"Although it seems like most people don't care, the ones who are interested take the leaflets and look at them. I think it's because people these days have become more conscious about their health and are interested in losing weight," she said.

Myeong-dong, the busy shopping district in downtown Seoul which teems with tourists, is notorious for its touts. Every few meters there are sales assistants trying to lure customers into their stores, passing out leaflets as well as giveaways.

As annoyed as some passers-by are by the touts, the job such sales assistants take on is not an easy one.

"Just one or two out of 10 people who walk by take the leaflets," said Shin Kyung-oh, 20, who was working in front of a seolleongtang (ox-bone soup) restaurant around lunchtime on a Sunday.

According to Shin, there are four distinct kinds of people he encounters: those who just pass by, those who apologetically decline the leaflets, those who take them but throw them away, and then finally those who take the leaflets and actually walk into the restaurant.

That the last group exists proves the advertising works, he said. "That's why I am here."

Shin, who works part-time at the restaurant, is sent outside to pass out leaflets when the restaurant has few customers inside.

"Because the menu we offer is a traditional Korean one, Japanese tourists stop by to take the leaflets and head into the restaurant," said Shin.

Does it work?

Kim Myung-woo is the owner of a small restaurant in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province. Since he started his business in 2008, he spent a large portion of his budget on sales promotions, including handing out advertisements in the street during busy commuter hours, until recently.

"The plan seemed to be working just fine initially. The money spent on it came back as an increase in revenue," Kim said. "As the effect dwindled, however, we decided to save money on buying the advertisements and the salaries for the distributors."

In addition to paying 88,000 won for 8,000 leaflets, Kim had to pay employees 40 won for each one they handed out.

"I found that most people do not take it, especially when the weather is cold like these days," Kim said. "If lucky, they take it only to throw it away after taking a few steps."

Gathering up the leaflets randomly scattered in the street is hard work, Kim said, and some people outspokenly complain about them.

"The worst part is the effect is hard to measure, while the cost is not," he said. "We still do it as a special event from time to time but no longer very often."

Kim Ju-hwan, 38, is an owner of a small yoga center in Yeouido, Seoul. He usually spends money on such advertising in summer, which is a low season for Yoga.

"I see many people simply ignore the women handing out the leaflets or throw them away although they take them, but obviously, there are some people who come to the center after they read the ads. That's why I can't stop allocating budget for it," Kim said.

Kim said he received several calls from interested customers after he advertised on the streets, so the method is not useless.

Inconvenient and uncomfortable

Many people, however, are annoyed by the deluge of leaflets on the street, and the women trying to distribute them.

Jin Jung-min, a 28-year-old office worker at Jongno, central Seoul, experienced an unpleasant incident with one such woman.

"One day, I was on my way to have lunch with my colleagues. The weather was literally freezing so I put my hands in the pockets of my jacket. Suddenly, an old lady came to me and pushed an advertisement paper into my side. I didn't want to pull out my hand out of my pocket, as I didn't want to get the leaflet. All of a sudden, the papers fell and scattered at my feet. As soon as the leaflets fell, the old lady stared at me with an angry face and uttered curse words," Jin said.

"She said how I could not do such a small favor. Sure enough, I became a merciless person in front of my colleagues."

Jin said she felt unpleasant over what had happened, as a person who had always felt uncomfortable when passing by people handing out leaflets.

"So it is uncomfortable, but it's inconvenient at the same time. I don't need those advertisements and I don't want to have my hands full of papers. But I can imagine how hard they try, especially in this cold weather," Jin said.

"Such marketing in the street is a very unique way that I did not see in the United States because people drive in most cities there," said Christian Washington, resident in Japan from the United States who is a frequent visitor to Korea.

"But I don't think the fact that more people have their own cars is the only factor, since I do not see people handing out brochures and advertisements even in downtown areas."

Washington said such sales promotion is annoying at times, and he usually ignores it unless the advertisement is attached to something valuable, such as tissue packs and plastic fans in the summer.

He nonetheless barely pays attention to the printed content.

"I usually throw the advertisements immediately after taking the useful stuff," Washington said. "Interestingly, however, the advertisement givers do not care much about whether the consumers keep it or not unless they are the owners of the business, based on my observations."

Referring to his experience in Japan, he said Koreans are more aggressive in terms of such marketing, noting "If you show you are not interested, most Japanese quickly leave you alone, whereas Koreans appear to be more persistent, to put it mildly."

Because he looks obviously different from the crowd with African-American features, the leaflet distributors often ignore him.

"I find the advertisements scattered everywhere on the ground, which makes the city look dirty," Washington said. "That is the only problem I have."