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By Cathy Rose A. Garcia It’s just over a week before the New Year, so how many 2011 calendars and diaries have you received?
After receiving her sixth 2011 calendar, this reporter stopped counting. It’s not a lack of appreciation for the calendars that have been given, but more because of the fact that this reporter has received simply too many for just one person.
It is a Korean year-end custom for companies to give out calendars and diaries to business partners, customers, colleagues, family, friends, neighbors and almost anyone they can think of, as a sign of appreciation.
Everyone receives calendars from their office, school, bank, supermarket, restaurants and church. Even fast food chain Lotteria gives out free desk calendars for anyone who orders a hamburger.
The calendars usually start arriving in early December, and by the middle of the month, it turns into a steady torrent of wall calendars, leather journals, pocket organizers and desk calendars.
It is quite amazing when one stops to think about how much it costs companies to design, print and mail all these items. Each person seems to get more calendars than he or she knows what to do with, so the extra ones end up being passed on, re-gifted or worse, discarded.
Korean companies seem to have an unofficial competition on who can come up with the best wall calendar that will occupy a prominent place in people’s homes.
Major companies and banks’ calendars are designed with classy and artistic monthly pages, usually featuring paintings by renowned Korean and international artists. It is important to choose the theme properly, after all no one wants to have a badly designed or boring calendar hanging on the wall for 12 months.
Samsung Group, the country’s largest conglomerate, released a tasteful wall calendar with the works of eccentric Korean artist Lee In-sung (1912-1950).
The Samsung calendar, which features Lee’s vibrantly colored portraits and landscape paintings, is printed on French-made heavy, 100 percent cotton paper. Each page is embossed with Lee’s signature, which makes it feel more like a work of art than a mass produced calendar. There were reports the Samsung offering costs more than five times the average cost of wall calendars produced by other Korean companies.
SK Group, Korea’s third largest conglomerate, featured old maps for its wall calendar. It also looked expensive, printed on French-made paper that is 100 percent cotton and each sheet weighs 230 grams.
Another SK Group calendar showcased Korean artist Moon Beom’s monochrome landscape paintings from his ``Slow, same, slow’’ and ``Possible worlds’’ series.
Merck Korea picked Korean artist Lee Kye-song’s colorful abstract paintings to grace its 2011 calendar. On the other hand, tobacco company KT&G’s ``Play It” desk calendar highlights the creative and whimsical works of four Korean illustrators, which gives it a more youthful vibe than the other calendars.
On the other hand, the works of famed artists seem to be quite a popular choice.
The Export-Import Bank of Korea’s calendar features notable paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, such as ``Roses and Anemones’’, ``Women Picking Olives,’’ and ``Van Gogh’s Room at Arles.’’
The Korea Exchange Bank also chose to create a 2011 calendar filled with masterpieces by famous artists such as Edgar Degas, Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Signac and Henri Matisse.
Samsung also released a desk calendar with striking photographs of calla lilies, orchids and tulips by renowned American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.
The companies have spent so much time, effort and money to create these calendars, which would have been channeled into more meaningful endeavors.
From a green perspective, it seems like a massive waste of paper and energy to create so many calendars. After all, an average person only needs one desk calendar at work, and maybe two calendars at home.
With so many beautifully-made calendars, one is hard pressed to choose which one will actually be used. Some might think having a big Korean conglomerate’s calendar on the wall is a status symbol, but for this reporter, it doesn’t matter which company its from, as long as it has pretty images that will be pleasant to look at for the entire year.
It seems like a pity to think about how many of the calendars will end up being wasted. Who knows how many will end up in the trash can, unused even before the new year starts?
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