Distinction: Cultural Currency of Contemporary Korean-ness in Malaysian Commercial Landscapes

With the rising popularity of Korean media, it has become common to encounter Korean cultural images in everyday Malaysian life. The visual and linguistic elements inspired by Korean media cultures have been embraced to promote brands and products in the Malaysian consumer market. This study examines three distinct types of commercial environments that integrate commodified Korean cultural images in Malaysia. These three commercial landscapes have strategically incorporated contemporary Korean cultural elements in different ways to leverage the wide popularity of Korean media. First, commodified Korean cultural images are frequently observed in hyper-consumer areas, such as shopping malls and trendy cultural districts where young, affluent, urban consumers congregate. These commercial spaces employ common brand promotion practices, including featuring up-to-date popular Korean celebrities as brand ambassadors, to claim the upper position in the hierarchy of cultural tastes within the Malaysian consumer market. Second, there is an increasing number of retail businesses originating in Korea, including Korean franchise convenience stores. These businesses deliberately feature the same linguistic and visual elements seen in their shops in Korea, without any local translations. The popular depictions of everyday Korean life emphasize contemporary Korean-ness as a distinct cultural preference widely appreciated by Malaysian consumers. Third, there are also local small businesses that commodify Korean cultural images to promote their brands and products. While these low-cost cultural promotions sometimes deviate from authenticity, using broken Korean and inappropriate imagery, these promotional strategies are embraced to engage consumers with popular cultural motifs.