With a start of a new year, there is an atmosphere of the member replacements in various industries. And the CF industry is no exception to this.
A number of top female stars are now giving up their titles of CF Queens to the new generation of top female stars. Since the end of last year, the advertising agencies are having difficulties deciding between the old models that are familiar with the consumers and the new models with uniqueness and originality.
For example, Lee Young-ae, who had been LG Whisen (Open the link) Air Condition's model for last 4 years, was replaced by Jeong Ryeo-won. Jeong Ryeo-won took over Lee Young-ae's place with Lee Seon-gyoon as her partner and some points out that she lacks the charisma to be the brand's model while some support her by saying that the change of the model had positive effects on the image of the company.
In addition, Kim Nam-joo, who had been the Lady of Daewoo Construction Prugio (Open the link) for last 7 years, handed over her place to Kim Tae-hee. Samsung Electronics Zipel (Open the link) has also chosen Yoon Eun-hye as their next generation of models to add some fresh image to the brand.
In comparison to the advertisement of food or drink which changes their model frequently to satisfy the popular culture of the time, the construction and household appliance companies had been keeping the same model for quite a long period of time to establish familiarity between the model and the consumers. Thus this new trend in the CF industry is seen as an exceptional case.
A spokesman from an advertising agency explained, "There is no 'special' reason or cause behind this new trend. Rather it is a result of the mutual need of many companies seeking a new and original image which was met by the rising of the new generation female stars. Despite what is being said about this new trend, the previous generation of models still have strong influence in the industry. For example, this is Lee Mi-yeon's 7th years working as a model for Doosan Construction Company. Thus this phenomenon is just a chance event during this re-contracting period rather than the replacement of a whole generation of models as many seems to think".
However, he also added that the new generation of female stars include Yoon Eun-hye, Jeong Ryeo-won and Kim Ah-joong will be threats to previous generation of models for quite a time because they are both original and new as well as they have already established strong familiarity with the general public.
Korean )
