Sam Pack, ‘If It’s Korean, It Must Be Good’: The Nation Branding of South Korean Popular Culture in the Philippines

Sam Pack, ‘If It’s Korean, It Must Be Good’: The Nation Branding of South Korean Popular Culture in the Philippines, European Journal of Korean Studies, Vol. 17, No. 2 (Spring, 2018), 85-101.

Abstract: Filipinos are avid consumers of exported South Korean media products. Teenagers and young adults know the lyrics and dance moves of their favorite K-Pop performers while older viewers are engrossed in the weekly Korean television dramas (known in the Philippines as ‘Koreanovelas’). There exists, however, a fundamental disconnect between the idealised images disseminated in the media and their everyday lived experiences that are characterised by mutual antipathy. My objective in this research project was to examine how Filipino consumers negotiate these conflicting messages by exploring the correlation between the consumption of Korean media products and the consumerism of Korean non-media products by Filipino fans of the Korean Wave.

Keywords: South Korea, Philippines, popular culture, consumerism, globalisation.