Singapore’s Seoul Spicy Burger and a Curious Use of Korean

When a language becomes part of the look

Hearing Korean outside Korea feels much less unusual now. It turns up on signs, in streaming shows and in ads for international brands. That says something about where Korean culture sits in the world. The more interesting question is what the ad expects the Korean to do once it has put the language on screen.

The Seoul Spicy Burger campaign from McDonald’s Singapore offers an awkward, absorbing example. A global chain launched a Korean-themed burger and made a video to advertise it. So far it looks like a familiar use of the Korean Wave. Watch the video, though, and something feels off about the way Korean is used in the scene.

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Selling Seoul

The name Seoul Spicy Burger does a lot of work. A city stands in for the whole country, and the ad counts on that name to suggest something fast, sharp and fashionable. Seoul becomes a set of associations a customer can recognise without ever finding it on a map.

The video uses more than a word or two of Korean, and English subtitles supply the meaning. As a format, a local campaign with lines in another language is entirely familiar. Still, the dialogue feels awkward. Pronunciation by itself can hardly explain that.

The trouble is that the scene gives the words too little reason to be there in the first place.

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What Happens to Oppa

The moment that sticks out is when the burger is in view and someone says “oppa.” In Korean, a woman or girl may use the word for an older brother or an older man she feels close to. It can carry affection or flirtation, depending on the relationship. The ad does little to establish a relationship that would make the word land.

It leaves the impression that Korean is there as part of the set dressing, with the word chosen for its association with popular culture. The audience may know it sounds cute or familiar from dramas. The scene gives them little else to work with.

A language can be present without sounding at home in the conversation. When the reason for a word is missing, it pulls the viewer out of the scene.

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An Interesting Attempt That Stops Early

There’s something striking about a Singaporean ad putting Korean so prominently on screen. That would once have been hard to imagine. It shows that a large international company sees Korean culture as a marketing resource.

The video leaves that idea only partly explored. It makes room for the words without working out what they should do for the story. You can see the opening for something funny or convincing, which makes the result feel all the more empty.

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The Next Step for the Korean Wave

The Seoul Spicy Burger shows both the distance Korean popular culture had travelled and the work still to be done. Korean can be familiar enough to appear in an advertisement and still be used on the assumption that recognition can carry a line on its own. The missing ingredient is context.

If Korean dialogue is going to work in an ad abroad, the writers have to consider who would say it, to whom and why. Then the line can help tell the story.

Singapore’s Seoul Spicy Burger caught Korean advertising at a point where the words were widely recognisable and their meanings still easy to leave behind.