SKITTLES!

I've realized & have certainly come to grips w/the  fact Koreans absolutely love bright, flashing, scrolling lights & neon signs - they're everywhere, advertising everything from munchy morsels, low low prices on peculiar & equally flashy clothing, to the more adult-themed points of interest.

As I've meandered my way around various parts of Gumi & Daegu (3rd largest city in Korea about 30 minutes by train to the south), I am continually inundated w/eye-gasms at the sight of all the advertisements & signs. I have gotten a wee bit better at reading (or at least guessing) what many of them say but still pay less attention to what the establishment is actually in business for & more time devoted to a near trance-like state with my eyes fixed on all the colors of the rainbow dancing & racing around the signs & on occasionally even the advertisement or logo itself. 

The pictures certainly don't do it justice in terms of the eye spectacle it becomes first hand but regardless, it got me thinking of the silly Skittles commercials I used to see on TV at the bar from time to time - conclusion of the commercial w/the 'Taste the Rainbow' line, followed by the fade away shot of some spectacularly colorful rainbow of fruit flavors.  It makes me wonder if maybe the good folks in the Skittles marketing department hired a Korean ad firm to head up their latest campaign in hopes of reaching that ever elusive Asian consumer demographic.

Either way, I can understand a bit of the appeal to entice future customers by offering near seizure inducing, gimmicky signs in an effort to raise profits while clearly saying 'We might well be the most gay friendly establishment you can choose to spend your hard earned Won!'  It also makes sense during the cold, dull, gloomy winter months when a simple splash of color could help raise morale of the local populous while subtly coaxing them in to buy stuff. Just in case the flashing lights aren't able to do the trick, many places also have ridiculously corny 

 inflatable characters that flail about or else it's an extraordinarily oversized inflatable beer can looking thing - which is actually pretty funny watching some of these things get thrown around when the wind really kicks up (there is enough weight in the bottom to keep them from completely running amok or tipping over & doing significant damage to items or patrons w/in close proximity). You can see a couple of the 'beer can' inflatables near the center of the pic to the left.

It reminds me of a more chaotic, geeked out version of standing in Times Square w/shiny lights enamoring folks day in and day out for no apparent reason other than selling mostly unnecessary wares. Given most Koreans fascination & desire to visit the NYC & specifically stand in Times Square, perhaps their over the top advertising antics is an homage to the eye candy offered up in New York!