Flower of Capitalism kindles an overdue intellectual engagement with Korean advertisement, casting light on how it has bridged public morals and the free market in postmillennial South Korea. Olga Fedorenko conceptualizes the distinctive “cultural logic of South Korean advertising,” marked by the expression of being “unlikely” (68). Whereas advertisements in other capitalist countries unquestioningly prioritize the advertiser’s personal benefit, advertising in Korea has been remarkably concerned with balancing individual profit seeking and public interest. The “public interest” here includes protecting citizens from biased or lascivious images, inaccurate information, and even media oligopolies, for advertising can financially empower media outlets with certain ideological orientations. To explain this counterintuitive aspect, the book historicizes multiple endeavors at both institutional and civil levels for fashioning public-oriented media ethics in South Korea from the 1960s, while referring to an even broader history of prioritizing publicness (kong) over privateness (sa) in the...

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