Comparative Analysis of Historical National Image Advertising in Korea - Video Advertisements Produced between 1998-2017

Abstract

Since national image video advertisements are a means of public relations with wide delivery and major repercussions at home and abroad, this study performs a comparative analysis of video advertisements aired by previous governments as reported by Daejung Kim, Moohyun Roh, Myungbak Lee, and Geunhye Park. The characteristics of the previous governments, whether or not social trends were reflected, and the importance of traditional and modern elements were examined. As we describe, there are clear differences in video advertisements by government regime, and while messages expressing traditional values of Eastern culture have gradually decreased, reflecting the trends of the times, the messages emphasizing the modern values of the West have gradually increased. Our research confirmed that traditional elements such as 'Samulnori' and 'Taekwondo' are gradually disappearing. In addition, it was confirmed that the collective values, traditional values, and humanism represented by the 'large crowd' and 'traditional elements' in the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administration changed in the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations to more individualistic, materialistic, Western values. This study is meaningful in that it analyzed the components and characteristics of national image advertisements by governments in the past, how social trends were reflected, and the weight difference between traditional and modern elements. Based on this research, the significance of the current Moon Jae-in government's groundwork for follow-up research should not be understated.

1. Introduction

The national image is a collection of beliefs and impressions held by people toward a specific country or its people, and include both cognitive descriptions, emotional and behavioral aspects [1]. This not only exists as a holistic image, but also affects various aspects of the country's operation. Economically, it is a decisive factor in the process of purchasing products or the selection of tourism products, and diplomacy as a decisive factor in reinforcing the status of the country and activating international exchange and cooperation [2]. Also, the national image is meaningful in that it can serve as an opportunity for social integration in relation to national identity. As such, the national image is important in that it acts as a national competitiveness and a national asset [2,3].

The government participates in international organizations, holds international conferences and conventions, and supports public and private international exchange projects to enhance the national image. It also uses methods such as analyzing and responding to foreign news reports, advertising and public relations execution and information provision using print/broadcasting media, websites or SNS (Social Network Service) [3]. Among them, advertisements are communication activities that can easily and quickly deliver messages expressed in texts, pictures, photos, videos, and sounds to a large number of the public. In particular, video advertisements have the effect of maximizing delivery power by adding sound effects such as visual effects and background music according to shooting and editing techniques to the story to be conveyed. Meanwhile, with the development of information and communication technology, the penetration of video advertisements is gradually increasing due to the emergence of new media such as the Internet, mobile, and IPTV, which serve as the main delivery medium of information. Therefore, the government secures a budget to promote a positive national image as a means of promoting the national image and produces and distributes national image video advertisements [4].

National image is formed by the action of various factors such as politics, international relations, nationality, history, culture and arts, sports, tourism resources, national symbols, and products [2, 3, 5]. In other words, social and cultural changes affect the change of the national image, which in turn affects the change in politics and society as a whole by changing the context of the national image advertisement. This is a change in the ideology and philosophy that governs the country and this is reflected in policy changes and the factors that form the national image.

Therefore, it is necessary to confirm what the components of national image video advertisement are, what the characteristics of video advertisements by previous governments according to political changes are, and whether changes in social trends are reflected in national image video advertisements. In addition to reflecting the characteristics of each government, it is necessary to analyze to what extent traditional and modern elements are reflected as national image materials in that the national image has no choice but to reflect the history and tradition of a specific country. Therefore, this study examines the characteristics of the national image video advertisement components of Korea and the differences between governments in detail analyze modern elements, and the process of change and differences in social trends of national image advertisements and compare the proportion and harmony of traditional and modern elements. The research questions for this are as follows.

Research questions

RQ1: What are the characteristics of the components of Korea's national image advertisement, and what are the differences between the previous governments?

RQ2: What social trends are reflected in Korea's national image advertisement?

RQ3: What is the proportion of traditional and modern elements in national image advertising by government?

2. Conceptual Background

2.1 National image

In general, the national image is the overall perception of a specific country, and is formed by a combination of political, social, economic, history, cultural, artistic, sports, and diplomatic elements of that country [3]. Here, an image means something that imitates an object, and it can be seen as a general notion of a human being about a specific object. It is understood as a cognitive description that people have about, or that people know and believe that it is usually true about a country or its people [6,7]. In terms of economic and tourism, the national image is also understood as a general perception of the quality of products manufactured in a specific country [8], and it is also an important variable influencing tourists' travel destinations. Is directly or indirectly affecting the national competitiveness, which is a long-term development capability that takes into account various aspects of a country namely politics, economy, society, and culture. Therefore, forming a positive national image plays an important role in maintaining and developing diplomacy and trade as well as culture and tourism between countries [7]. In other words, since the national image is a combination of several specific factors that best represent the target country, many countries are striving to change the standards of people's value judgment by forming a positive national image [9]. Korea also recognized the importance of enhancing the national image by clearly forming a proper national identity starting with the 2002 World Cup, starting with a full-scale study of the national image in the 1990s, and continuous research is being conducted on this [10].

2.2 Components of video advertisement

Among the various advertising means, video advertising is a very effective communication tool in that it has greater delivery and penetration power than any other medium, and at the same time, it is a mass media that does not have a compulsory character or it may be neglected negatively [7]. Various tools have been used to analyze video advertisements. The elements commonly used by emphasizing the textuality of video advertisements are summarized as follows [7,11].

Table 1. Textuality of video ads

On the other hand, the method of researching the linguistic text and visual image text of video advertisement by the analysis frame of visual elements, images and stories, image elements and linguistic elements as a whole is as follows [12].

Table 2. Verbal text and visual image frames

In addition, there is a study that analyzes the messages displayed in the advertisement of the Ministry of Public Relations between 1993 and 2004, focusing on the message element, into national development, community consciousness, national image succession, and bright society and future images [13]. As a study on the elements of the TV public service advertisement, advertisement images broadcasted on TV in 2007 were selected and analyzed to study the correlation between visual and tactile stimuli and advertisement components in TV public service advertisement images, and among them, modeled as a component of TV advertisement images, voice actors, advertising copy, jingle, shooting background, computer graphics, sound effects, and prior research that categorized brand names [14].

2.3 Changes in public relations characteristics and state policy by government

The public relations of Korea's state affairs have been used for different purposes, undergoing various changes in the regime by successive regimes [15]. In fact, the public relations organization and role of state affairs have changed variously from the liberation of Korea to the present day, but it is not much different in that domestic and foreign public relations and policy publicity have contributed to enhancing the national image. The changes in national vision, national brand, and public relations organizations from the Kim Dae-jung administration to the Park Geun-hye administration, where the National Public Relations Office was established, are summarized as follows.

Table 3. Characteristics of public relations by government statistics of Seoul city

Through the study on the use of public relations agencies of the central ministries, the period when the public relations activities of the government took place in quantitative and qualitative aspects was the participatory government, characterized by the recruitment of private public relations experts and the expansion of the use of public relations agencies [16]. These private public relations agencies have expertise in public relations techniques and implementation, but are insufficient to satisfy government officials in extracting key points in content planning and composition. In addition, while the government's purpose of using private agencies is to develop communication strategies from a long-term perspective, there is a limit to the use of private public relations agencies to establish public relations strategies as a short-term agency. On the other hand, the budget changes caused by changes in the government's public relations departments from 2005 to 2010, before and after the abolition of the Ministry of Public Affairs in 2008, the status of the Lee Myung-bak administration's public relations headquarters was lower than that of the Roh Moo-hyun administration, however the overall budget is similar, such as exceeding the public relations budget.

Table 4. Size of annual promotional budget (unit: 1, 000, 000 KRW)

When it comes to government reorganization, the Park Geun-hye administration has maintained this stance since the Roh Moo-hyun administration has reorganized the government organization, which has a spokesperson office in each department. As a result of examining whether there is a separate public relations officer or public relations department in each ministry's office, and how the size of the number of public relations influences the government's public relations work, the separate composition of the public relations organization and the increase in the number of public relations did not lead to an increase in public relations efficiency [17].

2.4 Changes in the trends of the times and traditional and modern elements in national image video advertisements

From the 1970s to 2010s, the change in the value of national image video advertisements showed a gradual increase in the overall value of individualist values, while advertisements that emphasize collectivist values gradually decreased. However, since the 1990s, the proportion of advertisements emphasizing individualistic values has been higher than that of advertisements showing collectivist values, and after the 2000s, about 70% of advertisements expressed individualistic values. The proportion of advertisements emphasizing egalitarian values was also higher than those showing authoritarian values starting in the 1990s, and after the second half of the 2000s, they showed an overwhelming increase of around 65%. In the case of modern family values and traditional family values, advertisements emphasizing modern family values in the early 1990s are far ahead (70%), and cultural values have been focusing on showing traditional values rather than modern Western values in earnest from the 1990s [18,19]. More specifically, it emphasized the establishment and execution of strategic measures to ensure that there is no gap between what foreigners can expect of Korea and what they actually have. This is because the traditional elements and the natural environment can be emphasized properly [20].

In the above, the main precedent studies on the national image, the constituent elements of advertisement, and the trends of each period in advertisement were examined. Previous studies have discussed the expertise of government public relations, strategic plans for this, the content of government public relations, or the importance or impact of government public relations organizations. However, few studies have been conducted on the specific differences in the components and differences of national image video advertisements by government through quantitative analysis, social trends or traditional/modern elements in promoting national images. Therefore, this study examines and analyzes the characteristics of the national image video advertisement components of Korea and the differences between governments in detail and modern elements, but also compares the process of change and differences in social trends of national image advertisements and the proportion and harmony of traditional and modern elements.

3. Materials and Methods

3.1 Data collection and sampling

There has not been a systematic database of national image advertisements produced by the country as the government's major video advertisement public relations agencies have been changed from the public relations offices of the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun governments to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Lee Myung-bak administration and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Park Geun-hye administration. Accordingly, in this study, data collection was conducted on the YouTube channel, the main posting place for national image advertisements. This is because it is an international medium that uses English and is one of the most influential video media in the world. Among them, promotional videos for national images produced and distributed by organizations under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (1998- 2008 National Public Relations Office), such as the Korea Tourism Examination and Overseas Culture Promotion Agency, were searched. The video production period is from 1998, when the national brand name was used, to the Park Geun-hye administration in 2017, and materials promoting specific international events or conferences are excluded from the search results. Among them, four representative promotional videos for each government were selected, including only those that are between 30 seconds and 1 minute and 30 seconds in length.

Table 5. List of national image video advertisement

3.2 Metrics and analysis framework

3.2.1 Message and video components

In advertising, a message is one of the communication stimuli exposed to the ad audience, and refers to the information, knowledge, thoughts, emotions, experiences, judgments, arguments, opinions, etc. to be conveyed, expressed in language or pictures [21]. As for the measurement items of the message component, it is analyzed by dividing into delivery method, material [22], jingle, subject, and delivery effect. The analysis framework according to this is as follows.

 Table 6. Message component

In addition, as the measurement item of the image component [23], which is a means of message delivery, it is analyzed by dividing it into model, background, voice actor, sound effect, and correlation, and the analysis frame according to this is as follows.

Table 7. Video component

3.2.2 Analysis method

First, while watching the selected 16 promotional videos, coding was conducted according to the set analysis frame. As a result, for items that are inevitable or do not have an appropriate selection item, the measurement tool was supplemented by revising detailed items and explanations, and secondly, coding was carried out according to the analysis frame modified in the first stage, and then a conclusion was drawn. In order to prevent errors due to one-sided judgment, only one characteristic that is most suitable for most of the measurement items was selected, but redundant coding was allowed for three types of material, background, and sound effect in which various expression elements were presented in combination.

4. Discussion

4.1. Components and characteristics of national image video advertisements by government

First, as a result of analyzing the frequency of message components, it was found that video was most often used as the main message delivery method, and characteristically, the Kim Dae-jung administration prefers the voice and the Park Geun-hye administration prefers the message delivery method using text. As for the subject matter, the prosperity of cultural arts was often revealed in the video, but differences in detailed material types emphasized by each government could also be examined. Representatively, the Kim Dae-jung administration emphasized the succession of traditional images, globalization, and internationalization, the Roh Moo-hyun administration used advanced science and technology development, and the Lee Myung-bak administration used a bright and hopeful society more frequently. In the case of melodies, most governments tended to use traditional melodies, but the Kim Dae-jung administration used not only the melody but also the background music containing lyrics that convey the message, and the Park Geun-hye administration mainly used modern melodies rather than traditional melodies. Next, in terms of the subject ultimately intended to be communicated through promotional video, the Kim Dae-jung administration took up tourism induction as a whole, while the Roh Moo-hyun and Lee Myung-bak administrations increased the rate of national image enhancement. In addition, it was also noteworthy that the portion of cultural promotion that was relatively inconspicuous in the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations was emphasized from the Lee Myung- bak and Park Geun-hye administrations. Among the various elements of the message, the promotional video of the Kim Dae-jung administration had the most pronounced transmission effect, and the promotional video of the Lee Myung-bak administration was evaluated to have the lowest level. The results of the frequency analysis of such message components are summarized in a table as follows.

Table 8. Message component by government (n=16)

Next, as a result of frequency analysis of video components by government, in the Kim Dae-jung administration, the president directly appeared as a model for promotional videos, whereas the Lee Myung-bak administration tended to model the public, and the Park Geun-hye administration modeled celebrities such as Korean Wave celebrities. As for the background, most government promotional videos have a large number of ordinary people or crowds in the background, while the Lee Myung-bak administration only has a natural environment in many cases. Most of the voice actors explaining the video were male voice actors, and the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye governments sometimes focused on the video without a voice actor or replaced it with a subtitle. There was no difference between the governments in the overall sound effects except for background music and voice actors, but the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations differed from the other two governments in that there were cases where the crowd's shouts were spread in the background. These results are summarized below.

Table 9. Video component by government (n=16)

4.2 Changes in the elements of national image advertising according to the trend of the times (reflecting social trends)

The Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations were classified as the 2000s, and the Lee Myung- bak and Park Geun-hye administrations were classified as the 2010s, and the differences in the message components of the national image advertisement were examined. As a result, in the 2000s, the delivery method using audio as well as video was mainly used, while in the 2010s, messages were delivered through the method of presenting text on images. Also, in the 2000s, the development of advanced science and technology and the succession of traditional images were adopted as the main material for expression, and in the 2010s, a bright and hopeful society, the prosperity of cultural arts were emphasized. In the same vein, the 2010s often used modern melodies that did not contain a specific message. Also, in the 2000s, the intention to induce tourism was often expressed directly, and the delivery power of this was also high. However, in the 2010s, the proportion of cultural publicity, which was not seen in the past, increased, and because the way of expressing these subjects was relatively indirect, there was a tendency of low communication power.

Table 10. Message component by era flow (n=16)

On the other hand, the elements of the national image image did not change significantly according to the trend of the times, but the department in charge of the National Public Relations Office was organized as the Ministry of Public Relations in Kim Dae-jung, the Roh Moo-hyun administration, and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye governments. There were many cases in which the president appeared as a model, but in the 2010s, there were many advertisements that featured the general public as models. Also, compared to the 2010s, in the 2000s, the crowd was used as the background or the crowd sound was used as background music.

Table 11. Video component by era flow (n=16)

4.3 Traditional and modern elements and characteristics of national image advertisements by government

When measuring the frequency of use by dividing the characteristics of the video component of each government's national image advertisement into traditional and modern elements, there was a marked difference depending on the government or the passage of time. First of all, traditional elements such as Taekwondo, cultural properties, and samulnori were frequently used by the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations, whereas the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations rarely appeared. In addition, the red devil of the cheering group, which became an issue every World Cup season, frequently appeared in the national image advertising consuls of the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations, but disappeared from the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations. The Roh Moo-hyun administration remarkably featured modern performance culture every time, and the same trend was seen in the Park Geun-hye administration. The elements that are used every time in the Park Geun-hye administration's national image advertisement are the introduction of domestic tourist attractions and the appearance of Korean Wave celebrities.

Table 12. Traditional and modern elements of national image video advertisement by government (n=16)

5. Conclusions

This study analyzed national image video advertisements produced by the government for the purpose of enhancing a positive national image for each successive government. National image video advertisements produced with a budget are large in delivery and ripple power at home and abroad, and reflect social, cultural and political changes, so the composition and characteristics of national image video advertisements, and differences between successive governments were analyzed. In addition, what social trends are reflected in the changes in national image video advertisements, and the weight of traditional and modern elements was examined.

As a result of the study, it was found that the more the Kim Dae-jung administration went to the Park Geun-hye administration, the more modern images were preferred from traditional images. For example, it can be seen that the jingle among the components of the message has changed from a traditional melody to a modern melody, and the material has also changed from traditional values such as inheriting traditional images to advanced technology, a hopeful society, and promoting the Korean Wave. Traditional elements such as Taekwondo, cultural properties, and Samulnori were frequently used in the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations, while the Lee Myung-bak administration and the Park Geun-hye administration rarely used this. In addition, the Kim Dae-jung administration and the Roh Moo-hyun administration inserted a crowd's shouts as background music or used a large number of crowds such as “red devil” as background images, but the Lee Myung-bak administration and the Park Geun-hye administration rarely used it. In other words, in the national image video advertisements of the Kim Dae-jung administration and the Roh Moo-hyun administration, collective values, traditional values, and humanism represented by the ‘large crowd’ and ‘traditional elements’ have changed to individualistic values, western values, and materialism in the Lee Myung-bak administration and the Park Geun-hye administration [19]. It also shows that the advertising text contains ideological characteristics and intention [24]. In the national image advertisement, which was the subject of this study, it was found that the Kim Dae-jung administration preferred audio other than video, and the Park Geun-hye administration preferred text (subtitles).

However, it seems that further research is needed because the intentions of each previous government is not yet clear what kind of ideological characteristics and intentions are included in the difference between the previous governments in such advertising components. Excluding the Moon Jae-in government, which is still in progress, this research has not been able to utilize more diverse data due to the limitations of data collection by previous governments, and has not been able to prepare an analysis framework based on previous studies, so there is a limit to generalization. However, most of the previous studies have only discussed the expertise of government public relations, strategic plans for this, the content of government public relations, and the importance or impact of the government's public relations organization, but not quantitative analysis. Despite these limitations, this study conducted a meaningful quantitative analysis on the components and characteristics of national image advertisements by governments, the reflection content of social trends, and the weighted difference between traditional and modern elements. In addition, it is significant that the current Moon Jae-in government's national image video advertisement based on this study not only suggested the direction to proceed, but also laid the foundation for subsequent research.

Conflicts of Interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.