What would you associate Korea with if the name came out?
K-pop? Yup, absolutely not wrong. And it's very common for anyone to associate Korea with K-pop.
Is it a coincidence that hundreds or millions of people think the same as you?
Look into the rank chart Korea has always been associated with K-pop for 7 years (up to 2023) and expected to remain till 2026.
The Korean Wave (Hallyu) is a phenomenon. It attracts not just globally but across the generations from Boomers until Gen Alpha today. It is just what Hallyu products they prefer.
This is well ‘engineered’ by the Korean government to put the Korean image globally through sophisticated Korean Wave (Hallyu). Believe it or not, even if you are Boomers, you still can recognize K-pop and K-drama and admit that you are also watching the dramas.
Never imagine that it took over the Western dominance in terms of music, film, electronics and beauty. You can just flashback to 20 years ago, where you were still in your 20's watching the Western culture products but now, you are in your 40's sticking with Korean culture products in most of it.
But do you realize you are a consumer of Korean products? Either you just watch dramas/movies or just listen to K-pop, or love to eat Korean food, or trust Korean beauty. You are the consumer.
The Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE) has published the 2024 Overseas Hallyu Survey. It is to measure the use and perception of Hallyu content among consumers with Hallyu experience in major overseas countries.
The survey is not just comprehensive but in depth too on how the global perceptions toward Hallyu contents.
Let’s see how we all are very attached to this Hallyu content? Primarily, digitalization gives everyone easy access. Majority of families or individuals have their handphones which make everybody easily accessible to such contents. Either you watch the contents in your subscription platform or public platform. Watching dramas, music videos etc is just in your palm.
If we realize, we learn about Korea through dramas. Does anybody remember the Winter Sonata? A wonderful 20 episodes of dramatic revelations, tears, gratefulness and pure love. This creates a strong engagement bond towards Korean Drama. It is eventually a demand from us. We watched another side of romance other than watching Western sitcoms, crime or hero oriented, or even watching Bollywood creativity.
Then, Stairway to Heaven, Full House and Boys Over Flowers, another masterpiece from Korea. Slowly, the OSTs of each drama are catchy and trendy to be heard. All this not just delulu, its obsession towards the content. Starting point for Korea to be bigger and dominate entertainment.
It is not just about the dramas, but the Hallyu wave also pushes us to connect with Korean food, beauty and fashion. This Hallyu has pushed the audience to interact with Korean culture. Due to the popularity of the dramas and music,. Looking into how the life in the dramas or watching artist video diary, it is psychologically attract us deep to interact more with associated products
What commonly happened was, we all started to know the existence of these products by watching Hallyu dramas or TV programmes in the first place.
So, are you the same as how the report was? Could you refresh how you started to get attached with Korean products?So, are you the same as how the report was? Could you refresh how you started to get attached with Korean products?
Reference: 2024 Overseas Hallyu Survey
Iman Syah (imanunimap@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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