8.17.2014

Kia Carnival: The State of Our Dads

I ran across this PR campaign a while ago. If you watch the video to the end, you'll see that it's for the Kia Carnival, a minivan type vehicle. More specifically, it's for a program that Kia launched, Carnival Academy. They call it an academy, but in Korean that could also refer to a seminar course.

Commercialism aside, the video starts off with a typical day at work for Korean men, busy working in a rather bland office environment. They get called into a conference room for a test. The men obediently begin answering survey questions about what is most important at work, how much do you agree with the following statement, etc.

Part 2 of the test asks "Please enter your child's height and weight." "What is your child's favorite pop idol?" "What was your child's favorite family vacation?"And the men are stumped. Most pass the office test, where it shows one man passing the office section with 85 points and only managing 35 points on the section about children.

This shows concerns that a majority of families are facing in Korea--balancing office life and family life. Most men come home from work well after 8 pm and are too drained to be active on the weekends. Women who are tough enough to continue their careers after having children are also expected to stay late. Obviously this has very serious implications for family life.

Even if the movement starts in a superficial and scripted advertisement, I really hope that over time the sentiment will be taken seriously by those in leadership roles so that we can restore family values in this "bbali bbali" society.

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