Feature: When is a sausage just a sausage? Controversial ads fuel S.Korea's sexism debate

GS Retail

28/05/2021 03:47

SEOUL, May 28 (Reuters) - This month three South Korean
companies and the Seoul police have had to pull ads and other
content after men's rights groups claimed that "small penis"
symbols were used, insulting men.
    The offending images? Hands with the thumbs and the index
fingers pinching towards each other illustrating the reaching
out for an object. But the gesture is also often used to
indicate something small in size and in South Korea, it is
associated with a strident, albeit now defunct, feminist group
that used the image in its logo.
    Exacerbating the problem, one ad and a menu involved were
also advertising sausages.
    Following its ad, South Korea's largest convenience store
chain, GS25, saw a handful of members from the men's group "Man
on Solidarity" protest outside the firm's headquarters. The
group's YouTube channel, which posts videos of its protests, has
gained more than 200,000 subscribers in just two months.
    GS25 withdrew its ad and fried chicken chain Genesis BBQ
pulled its menu, issuing apologies and stating they had no
intention to demean men. Kakao Bank Corp has apologised for a
hand drawn similarly in one of its ads and the Seoul
Metropolitan police also removed a hand from a road traffic ad
saying it wanted to avoid any misunderstanding.
    The controversy is the latest flare-up in long-running
tension over gender rights in South Korea that has pitted men
and women's groups against each other and which has also
resulted in police looking into whether female comedian Park
Na-rae broke any laws with a ribald joke made in March.
    The joke on a YouTube video involving a Stretch Armstrong
action figure whose arms were brought near his genital area
resulted in a storm of complaints that a similar joke by a male
comedian would never have been acceptable.
    Park, 35, and her agency JDB Entertainment issued statements
apologising and her YouTube channel was scrapped. Police are
obligated to look into the matter after a complaint was filed on
a website set up to address citizens' grievances, though it
remains unclear if charges will be filed.
    Park and her agency did not respond to Reuters requests for
comment on the potential police action.
    Kim Garo, director of the women's policy division at the
Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, said while the problems
of misogyny and misandry were not new in South Korea, the recent
targeting of companies and individuals was.
    She said it was difficult for the government to interfere
when protests took the form of consumer action but it would
continue with outreach programmes that invited young men and
women to discuss issues such as gender equality and jobs.
    
    POLITICAL FALLOUT
    When President Moon Jae-in came to power in 2017, he pledged
to be a president for gender equality, vowing to do more to fix
disadvantages for women in South Korea. 
    South Korea has one of the largest wage gaps of any OECD
country and low political representation for women who hold just
19% of parliamentary seats. Since Moon, women have seen some
improvement in wages and are also eligible for bigger government
subsidies than men when starting a new business.
    Political scientists say, however, many young men now feel
their own needs and rights are not being sufficiently
acknowledged, adding to widespread discontent over the lack of
job opportunities for young people.
    "Anti-feminist sentiment is strong among men in their 20s
and early 30s, as well as the generation that is becoming
adults," said Jeong Han-wool, a senior fellow at Hankook
Research Company. Research for a 2019 book he co-authored found
58.6% of Korean men in their 20s said they strongly opposed
feminism. 
    That complicates the outlook for the ruling Democratic Party
as it seeks re-election next year when Moon's single five-year
term ends. 
    The party has also lost support among women after multiple
sexual abuse scandals involving politicians, contributing to
crushing defeats in recent mayoral elections for Seoul and the
port of Busan.
    Park Jun-young, a 27-year old engineering graduate school
student, says he is among those who think men are now at a
disadvantage.
    "Feminism in South Korea started with gender equality,
allowing women the same access and to break the glass ceiling,
but it's turned into something where the nowadays young men -
who aren't better off than women the same age - have become a
target of criticism," he said.

 (Reporting by Seoul bureau; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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