KOREAN WAVE continues on

The Korean Wave crashes into the Western world

The prevalence of Korean entertainment charms a global audience and challenges the spotlight of American TV.

Paige France Staff Writer

>> KOREAN WAVE continued from page 01

According to a Korean Creative Content Agency study, about 18 million Americans watch K-dramas. Viki, another top Asian TV show provider, has documented over 40 million users from 195 countries, with the U.S. as its top audience. With its influential recognition and international reputation, Korean society began to be recognized as developed on par with the Western world, primarily due to the stories they tell, the music they praise, and ultimately, the messages that can be learned.

A study conducted by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health views K-dramas as promising modes of bullying awareness, especially among AsianAmerican college-aged students who identify more readily with the characters. Limitations in research on bullying, mental health, and help-seeking for this frequently stigmatized group have been deemed concerning in past years due to the nature of its public health importance. Korean drama TV has been an innovative, recent approach to improve knowledge, attitude, and behaviour on bullying.

From an experimental group of 118 college students, which is disproportionately female and Asian American, many of the students reported dealing with anxiety (67.8 per cent), depression (38.1 per cent), and school bullying victim experience (40.8 per cent). After watching a K-drama that portrayed school bullying and mental health issues, participants who had reported that they “love” the drama felt an emotional connection and thought that K-dramas could be an education tool for discriminated Asian-Americans. Due to the massive reach of K-dramas, research is ongoing to prove the longevity of K-dramas as an effective population-level tool for improving health outcomes among Asian Americans.

Edgar Allan Poe once described that the benefit of the short story over the novel is that condensed media has “the totality of effect.” This can be said because you can read the whole story in one sitting, fully immersing yourself into the plot and the imagery, whereas the primary failure of a novel is its inability to grasp the attention of the audience without once putting it down.

The fascination and admiration for this rejuvenated media stems from the fabric of the story which enables characters to be more complex. Usually condensed into one season, these limited K-drama series allow audiences to remain interested in one good story arc, in comparison to series that span multiple seasons and touch on different storylines.

Celebrity endorsements—the most popular menu item

Food and drink collaborations with iconic idols break both the internet and our wallets.

Lexey Burns Contributor

Most Canadian children born around 2000 remember National Hockey League (NHL) star Sidney Crosby as the face of Tim Hortons. I recently threw out a Crosby “Full Size Growth Chart” that I got from their drive-thru around 10 years ago—a memory that shows how Crosby has marketed with the coffee and donut chain on and off ever since Generation Z can remember. Their most recent collaboration was a commercial released at the end of August, featuring Crosby and NHL’s Nathan MacKinnon going through the Tim Hortons drive-thru on a Zamboni.

While the Tim Hortons and Crosby pairing can be nostalgic, the internet’s spotlight shifted to Starbucks. On November 12, Taylor Swift promoted her re-recorded album Red (Taylor’s Version) by partnering with Starbucks to release Swift’s go-to coffee order, a Grande Caramel Non-fat Latte named “Taylor’s Latte.” In a Swift-like style, Starbucks took to Twitter, posting different “easter eggs” to tease coffee-loving Swifties.

Before the drink’s release, Starbucks tweeted, “It’s Red Season,” followed by multiple Red-themed emojis—including a coffee cup, sparkles, a red scarf, and a red heart. The Starbucks Twitter account also changed their bio to “On a Friday, in a café…» as a reference to track 16 on the re-recorded Red, “Begin Again (Taylor’s Version).”

Swifties can also get Red-themed gift cards that are decorated with the lyrics “autumn leaves, falling down” from “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version).”

However, Swift is not the only one who recently partnered with a coffee chain. Justin Bieber also announced his collaboration with Tim Hortons beginning on November 29, promoting holiday Timbits and merchandise.

The three Timbits, renamed Timbiebs, feature three new flavours—chocolate white fudge, sour cream chocolate chip, and birthday cake waffle—while the merchandise includes a beanie, tote bag, and fanny pack.

Bieber, born in Stratford, Ontario, grew up frequently eating at the franchise and said in an interview that “doing a Tim Hortons collab has always been a dream of [his].”

In retaliation to the new name, TikTok users began to tease the rebrand, calling them “Bieb’s Balls,” “Bieber Bits,” and “BieBits.”

However, these collaborations with celebrities that break the internet are nothing new, as we saw TikTok star Charli D’Amelio’s endorsement of Dunkin’ Donuts back in February. “The Charli” was D’Amelio’s go-to coffee order—a Dunkin’ Cold Brew with whole milk and three pumps of caramel swirl.

Dunkin’ Donuts also went over the top for perks related to the drink, offering 100 bonus points by ordering ahead through the app and holding social media contests using the hashtag #CharliXDunkinContest. “Everyone knows that Charli runs on Dunkin’, and now Dunkin’ runs on Charli,” said Drayton Martin—Vice President, Brand Stewardship at Dunkin’—in an interview. It is not just coffee that celebrities find themselves endorsing. 50 Cent took on a contract with Vitamin Water, Beyoncé signed a $50 million deal with Pepsi, and Justin Timberlake helped advertise the iconic “I’m Lovin’ It” marketing campaign for McDonald’s when it was released in 2003.

With all the hype around celebrities and our favourite coffee, we start to wonder, do fans feel closer to their idols by drinking the same order?

It was proven that celebrity endorsements build brand equity, help customers remember advertisements, bring in fans who purchase the product, and help the brand stand out over competing companies and products that do not use celebrity branding.

So, will we see another Swift re-recorded album-themed drink pop up on the Starbucks menu? Will the sour cream chocolate chip Timbieb be good enough to generate future collaborations? Will Timberlake come out with another McDonald’s endorsement 18 years later? Only time will tell.

The Mariah Carey phenomenon

Uncovering how Carey’s hit song became a recurring Christmas favourite.

MARIAH CAREY/YOUTUBE

Lexey Burns Contributor

It really cannot be Christmas without hearing Mariah Carey’s classic “All I Want for Christmas is You,” but what makes it so addictive during the holiday season? It took Carey and songwriter Walter Afanasieff 15 minutes to create the song, but despite the short process, the 15-minute miracle has broken three Guinness World Records. This hit has earned the titles of “highest-charting holiday (Christmas/New Year) song on the Billboard US Hot 100 by a solo artist,” “most streamed track on Spotify in 24 hours (female),” and “most weeks in the UK singles Top 10 chart for a Christmas song” since its release in 1994. However, the song did not become number one on the Billboard Hot 100 until 2019.

Since 2017, “All I Want for Christmas is You” made over $60 million in royalties, earning $600,000 to $1 million for Carey every December. As of 2021, the song has over 979,000,000 streams on Spotify.

Due to its popularity, the song was adapted into a children’s book in 2015 as well as an animated short film in 2017, not to mention there are dozens of videos of goats screaming along to her whistle tones and modified TikTok audios for Generation Z humour.

So, what is the hype year after year?

One factor that contributes to the song’s popularity is its focus on the more mature aspects of Christmas, like romance (which fuels Hallmark movie lovers everywhere), instead of Santa Claus or Frosty the Snowman. However, as love is a universal feeling at any age, especially during the holidays, the song relates to everyone.

Another factor is that because the song came out in 1994, it is nostalgic for the generations that never had to live in a world without Carey’s hit song. Especially as the song is featured in popular Christmas movies, like Love, Actually and Merry Nickmas, the first notes of the catchy tune revive the pleasant feeling of being curled up in front of the TV in comfy pyjamas, sipping a cup of hot chocolate.

Finally, the underlying success of “All I Want for Christmas is You” is in Carey’s nickname—”the undisputed queen of Christmas.” Carey goes all out for the holidays, performing her hit song at Christmas festivities across the U.S. and publicly tweeting her disgust with her ex-husband, Nick Cannon’s, lack of Christmas spirit.

Carey’s energy toward Christmas is fuelled by her hit song’s 31.5 million streams so far this year, which leads us to wonder, how many times does she listen to her own song? Did Cannon file for divorce because she had it on repeat from November to January? Unfortunately, we will never know, but we can confirm that each of us will contribute to at least one stream of the song throughout the holiday season, whether we like it or not. It is inevitable, all thanks to the undisputed queen of Christmas.