By I said last year that the Korea Sparkling slogan has got to go and now it appears the Korean government may now finally get rid of it:
Korea is likely to stop using “Korea, Sparkling,” as its official tourism slogan in the near future as many specialists question its effectiveness as a motto representing the nation’s identity.
“The vast majority of experts expressed consistently negative views about the slogan. They said it sounded like a brand name for carbonated or sparkling water, not a catchy tourism slogan,” said Euh Yoon-dae, chairman of Presidential Council on Nation Branding, Wednesday.
During a meeting with 20 lawmakers affiliated with a National Assembly study group, Euh said his committee would let brand specialists conduct research on the effectiveness of the slogan first and then make the results public.
“The general public will ultimately decide whether the nation should continue to use or scrap the slogan,” said the chairman.
Some experts say criticism will be unavoidable if and when the government decides to stop using the slogan because of unwise budget spending and possible confusion from foreigners who are considering Korea as a tourist destination.
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) has promoted Korea tourism overseas with “Korea, Sparkling” since it was coined in 2007 as the nation’s culture and tourism slogan. [Korea Times]
The general public is not the ones that should be determining what the slogan is, the people you are trying to market the slogan to are the ones that should be polled to see if the slogan is any good. I also wonder how much money was given ot the person who came up with the slogan and designed the logo to only have it possibly canned two years later?
1:18 pm on July 16th, 2009 1
I think they should drop it but I am not impressed with the primary choice they are pushing to replace it.
"Korea Twinkling" just doesn't sound right either.
2:48 pm on July 16th, 2009 2
Wait… Are they suggesting foreigners come here by accident, looking for a carbonated beverage…?
5:06 pm on July 16th, 2009 3
I thought it was a brand of Soju.
5:03 pm on July 16th, 2009 4
I rather think "Korea Glistening" would have been a better choice.
/kinda like the way vomit glistens under a street light.
10:57 pm on July 16th, 2009 5
..especially when it's frozen!
I've never seen so much puke and phlegm hacked up on the sidewalk as I have here… Best part is when you see some hottie standing at the subway in her heels, texting away… and then HOCCHHHHH! PtOOEY! That's class, baby!
10:32 pm on July 17th, 2009 6
Hell…
…round-eyes have no idea about Asian history… and most of them don't even know there is a difference between Chinese and Japanese.
How about this tactic… nobody will ever know.
Korea: The Grand Capitol of a 5000 Year Pan-Asian Empire
Tourists will eat it up!
…or they could keep the creepy tourists out and concentrate on exporting quality electronics and machinery.
6:54 pm on July 18th, 2009 7
Perhaps they should hire a Madison Avenue PR firm to come up with their logos. Koreans trying to market themselves is like a lawyer representing himself. Korea Sparkling would never had been picked by an American PR company.. not in a million years. Doing a real ad campaign as opposed to whatever it was that they been doing lately would pay dividends. Perhaps this: "Korea — no, the OTHER one." Tourists will be clogging the streets.. lol
2:51 am on July 19th, 2009 8
It's all a waste of money. South Korea's economy clearly doesn't need to rely on foreign tourists.