Dram Man

LG's "See Vivid Death" Ad

While walking past City Hall the other day, I saw some food for thought regarding the brouhaha over the Kim Sun-il beheading video.

I was watching one of the big TV screens over the intersection, and had this exciting piece of footage. A young woman was struggling to get into a helicopter. The helicopter was flying some great distance above rugged mountains. A hand reaches out to her, trying to help her get on the helicopter. Both hands struggle to meet, but are unable. At a climatic moment, the woman looses her grip and plunges out of sight to her ultimate death.

The camera follows the "rescue" hand, which is connected, not to somebody in the helicopter, but rather a man in a living room who was apparently watching the exciting scene on a brand new LG wide screen TV. The creepy thing to me was the man had this look of pleasure and satisfaction as he sat back and relaxed after seeing the woman fall.

Here was a man who evidently lived this whole screen through the "magic" of his LG TV. The experience was so real and life like, he participated in the rescue by offering his hand even! However in the end, this woman plunges to her death, and this man looks happy and satisfied by witnessing her death. What the hell!

What kind of advertising message is this? "LG gives you all the clear brutality of death!"? "You will be so amazed by LG TV's that you wont care if people die!"? "LG the official TV of Auschwitz!"?

Even worse, what kind of person thinks a guy who smiles when somebody dies on TV in an "incredibly lifelike" way is the best spokesman for your products? The ways you can take this just boggle the mind.

Then again I could bring up the more diabolical connection. The viewer was Korean, and the woman was European. It was this connection that made me think of the problems right now over the tape of Mr. Kim versus all the other tapes widely seen in Korea.

posted by Dram Man @ 4:09 PM