[LECTURE] "Flower of Capitalism": Dreams and Realities of South Korean Advertising

FULL TITLE:
“Flower of Capitalism”: Dreams and Realities of South Korean Advertising


SPEAKER: Olga Fedorenko


DATE: Tuesday. July 22, 2025. 7:20PM (Seoul)


VENUE: Seoul Public Activities Center (SPAC, 서울시공익활동지원센터). ‘다목적홀’
(ADDRESS: Basement Floor, 40 Baekbeomro 99-gil, Yongsan Verdium Friends #101(용산베르디움프렌즈 101동), Yongsan-gu, Seoul), 2-3 minutes walking from Exit 8 of Samgakji-Station (Line 6 & Line 4)


ADMISSION (Online & In-person):
- Free for Members;
- W10,000 for Non-members;
- W5,000 for Non-member students (Student ID requested)

- If you would like to attend online Zoom,
√ RSVP by July 21 (Monday). Zoom Link Request ☞ https://forms.gle/BGsujV2HivuGyHNx7
√ We will email you the link on Tuesday morning.
√ For Non-member, payment to be remitted to the following account:
SHINHAN BANK ACCOUNT # 100-026-383501 (RAS-KB)

- To attend in-person, RSVP is not required.


SUMMARY:

In South Korea, the cultural logic of advertising (encapsulated by the cliché “advertising, the flower of capitalism”) historically downplayed its marketing purposes and privileged its potential for promoting virtue and enabling diverse mass media, even if those public-service aspirations sometimes collided with the business interests of advertisers. Flower of Capitalism: South Korean Advertising at a Crossroads (University of Hawaii Press, 2022) ethnographically examines the clash of advertising’s older obligations and the new freedoms that ensued when the previously-accepted vision of advertising came under attack with neoliberalization, particularly after 2008, when freedom to advertise became constitutionally protected. This lecture will introduce the book and share insights from a chapter that examines the cultural environment of South Korean advertising professionals, based on time spent observing and working alongside them at an ad agency in Seoul.


BIO:

Olga Fedorenko is Professor of Anthropology at Seoul National University. She received her Ph.D. from the East Asian Studies Department at the University of Toronto and taught at New York University before joining SNU. A scholar of Korean Studies and anthropology of media, Dr. Fedorenko has published on South Korean advertising and celebrity culture. Her new research explores Korean socialities and resurgence of analogue media in postdigital South Korea.


VENUE:

The Seoul Public Activities Center(SPAC, 서울시공익활동지원센터) is located at Yongsan Verdium Friends #101 (용산베르디움프렌즈 101동) B1, 40 Baekbeomro 99-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Walk 2-3 minutes from ‘Exit 8’ of Samgakji Station (LINE 6 & 4) and take the elevator down to the B1 Floor.

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• Next Saturday, 28th June, 02:00 am, [EXCURSION] 'Seoul's Eastern Gateway: Tracing the Evolution of Cheongnyangni' with Jack Greenberg in Seoul
• Next month, 12th July, 02:00 pm, [EXCURSION] 'Traces of the Independence Movement in Seodaemun' with Matt Volkenburg in Seoul