- Title: Uniqlo ad sparks protest, parody as S.Korea-Japan dispute flares
- Date: 22nd October 2019
- Summary: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (OCTOBER 22, 2019) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF UNIQLO STORE UNIQLO LOGO SOUTH KOREAN UNIVERSITY STUDENT, BANG SEULKICHAN, DOING ONE-MAN PROTEST IN FRONT OF UNIQLO STORE SIGN READING (Korean): "NO WAR CRIME CORPORATION" MOBILE PHONE SCREEN SHOWING UNIQLO COMMERCIAL WITH SUBTITLES READING (Korean): "GOSH! HOW CAN I REMEMBER SOMETHING THAT GOES BACK 80 YEARS?" BANG SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) 22-YEAR-OLD SOUTH KOREAN UNIVERSITY STUDENT, BANG SEULKICHAN, SAYING: "Japan keeps making Korea look like the bad guy for bringing this issue (historical problems between Korea and Japan) up. Uniqlo recently put out an advertisement with the line 'How do you remember something from 80 years ago?', and that made me want to do a one-man protest." BANG DOING ONE-MAN PROTEST / WOMAN SAYING TO BANG (Korean): "FIGHTING" SIGN READING (Korean): "OH NO! YOU ARE SAYING DO WE REMEMBER SOMETHING FROM 80 YEARS AGO? / WE REMEMBER COLONIZATION FROM 80 YEARS AGO" (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) 43-YEAR-OLD SOUTH KOREAN RESIDENT, LEE JA-YEON, SAYING: "They are looking down on Korea. They are making jokes and being sarcastic when they should really be reflecting on what they did wrong. We can't let this keep happening. We have to stop buying Japanese goods and continue to do so with pride until Japan reflects on its wrongs. That man (Bang) is incredible." BANG DOING ONE-MAN PROTEST LETTER ON SIGNS READING (Korean): "(LEFT SIGN) APOLOGIZE TO FORCED LABOUR VICTIMS AND FORMER COMFORT WOMEN AND STOP REPEATING ABSURD REMARKS, UNIQLO!"/ (RIGHT SIGN) "FOLLOW SUPREME COURT RULING AND MAKE AMENDS FOR FORCED LABOURERS!" (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) 28-YEAR-OLD SOUTH KOREAN RESIDENT, KIM JIN-SIL, SAYING: "The fact that they (Uniqlo) specifically put the words '80 years' in only the Korean advertisement is a problem. In the English version, there's no such thing, there's not even any nuance that points to it. Uniqlo is not genuinely apologetic because they are basically saying they had no political intentions, and it is our fault for misunderstanding the advertisement." CLOTHES ON DISPLAY AT UNIQLO STORE EXTERIOR OF UNIQLO STORE UNIQLO LOGO ON STORE
- Embargoed: 5th November 2019 06:31
- Keywords: South Korea Seoul Japan Tokyo Uniqlo advertisement comfort women forced labour
- Location: SEOUL AND GWANGJU, SOUTH KOREA
- City: SEOUL AND GWANGJU, SOUTH KOREA
- Country: South Korea
- Topics: Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA002B26FYV9
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: South Korean history major university student Youn Dong-hyeun created a YouTube video parodying Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo's commercial which was criticised as mocking victims of wartime forced labour and brothel workers.
The 19-second parody video posted on Saturday (October 19) depicts a likeness of the Uniqlo's TV commercial that the company began airing this month in South Korea and other markets.
In the original Uniqlo commercial, Iris Apfel, 97-year-old American style icon with more than 1.4 million Instagram followers, was in an animated conversation with 12-year-old fashion designer Kheris Rogers. When Rogers asked how she used to dress as a teenager, Apfel said: "I can't remember that far back!"
Instead of a literal translation of that line, the commercial which aired in South Korea carried subtitles saying: "Gosh! How can I remember something that goes back 80 years?"
Uniqlo pulled the ad in South Korea on Saturday (October 19) and a company official told Reuters there were no intentions to touch on the issue of comfort women or South Korea-Japan dispute.
In the parody video, Youn stands with Yang Geum-deok, a 90-year-old woman who had been a forced labourer for Japan's Mitsubishi during World War Two. He asks how hard it was for Yang when she was young. "I can never forget that awfully painful memory," she replies.
Another South Korean university student Bang Seulkichan staged a one-man protest in front of Uniqlo store in central Seoul and asked for the company's official apology.
South Korea and Japan share a bitter history dating to the Japanese colonisation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, including the use of comfort women, a euphemism for girls and women, many of them Korean, forced to work in its wartime brothels.
(Production: Dogyun Kim, Hyunyoung Yi, Minwoo Park) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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