Bibimbap ad lands in NYT

The members of the MBC TV reality show "Infinite Challenge" have put a full-page advertisement for bibimbap in the New York Times.

Their action follows an episode promoting Korean food in New York and was done jointly with national publicity specialist Seo Kyoung-duk - an honorary professor at Sungshin Women`s University.

Under the heading "How about bibimbap for lunch today?" the advertisement shows a picture and summarized description of the representative dish, with information on Korean restaurants in Manhattan at the bottom. It is located in section A of the Dec. 21 edition.

Production for the advertisement was accomplished together with Seo, while costs were covered by "Infinite Challenge," known as "Muhandojeon" in Korean, in this attempt to spread awareness of Korean cuisine internationally .

"During the shooting of the episode in New York, we realized how little New Yorkers knew about Korea and Korean food," Kim Tae-ho, producer of "Infinite Challenge" told local media.

"Rather than simply advertising Korean restaurants, we felt a more strategic approach - creating enticement through a particular dish - would be more appropriate. With the leftover traveling expenses from the New York episode and a portion of the 2009 Olympic Song Festival record earnings, we were able to pay for the costs of the advertisements," said Kim.

"Infinite Challenge" leader Yu Jae-seok expressed satisfaction in seeing Korean food promoted and referred to the advertisement as a result of not only the members of "Infinite Challenge," but also all the singers and attendees of the Olympic Song Festival.

Seo also related that "the best way to create awareness of Korea without actually visiting," is "through experiencing Korean food," thus explaining the logic behind the advertisement. With a webpage dedicated to Korean cuisine currently underway and another advertisement for the New York Times in line, Seo alluded to future plans of furthering this path for national publicity.

(jyan2787@googlemail.com)



By An Ji-yoon