Sunday, May 06, 2007

Today in sexualized commerce

Just an interesting juxtaposition of two pictures taken 30 minutes and 3 blocks of each other. Both show women in the same legwear using their bodies to sell. The first picture shows a nareiteo (나레이터, from the English 'narrator') dancing in front of the grand opening of a cell phone store. Nareiteo or narrators are a well known sights to anyone who's spent any substantial time in Korea. When opening a new business, most small businessmen will hire two girls to come, dance to very loud music and shout on a loudspeaker. They do it year round, and it is possible to see nareiteo in the dead of winter with gloves on, dancing under a massive outdoor heater.

In this picture, two girls dressed as angels, with little angel wings on their backs and heads, stand out front of the Skin Food, a Body Shop-style affair. In this case they are trying to attract women to the store, one would assume, so it's interesting that while there is no emphasis placed on the breasts or makeup, their legs are prominently displayed. I'll leave it to the experts to conjecture why.

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