Korean TV’s Unlikely Star: Subway Sandwiches難以置信的韓劇之星：賽百味三明治

塞思·伯克曼 陳天怡

In an episode of the Korean television show The K2， which takes place in a world of fugitives and bodyguards， a man is being treated with a defibrillator1 when he enters into a dream state.

On the fringe of death， he recalls taking a past love to a Subway restaurant and to a park for a picnic， where he gently feeds her a sandwich and soft drink with the Subway logo facing the camera.

The detail is not a narrative quirk2. It is a result of South Korea’s broadcasting regulations and the aggressive use of product placement3 in the country’s shows by Subway， the US sandwich chain famous for its US$5 foot-longs.

“People joke， ‘If I had a drink every time Subway popped up， I’d be drunk before the first half is over，’” said Ms Jae-Ha Kim， a journalist in Chicago who reviews Korean dramas. “Everyone here’s like， ‘I never got a Subway sandwich that looked that good， with that much meat.’”

Product placement in TV shows is a reality the world over. But South Korea’s terrestrial4 stations are prevented from inserting commercial breaks during programming， meaning many Korean companies must be creative about getting their wares in front of viewers. As Korean dramas have become more popular with international audiences， global brands have pushed to be part of the action.

And no company has pushed harder than Subway， which has grown into the world’s largest fast-food chain by store count since its founding in 1965 in Bridgeport， Connecticut.

Subway did not provide a total of how many Korean dramas its products had appeared in， but an informal tally by The New York Times counted appearances on 17 shows. That can add up to a lot of people seeing the company’s cold cuts5. Netflix， with more than 203 million worldwide members， has become a leading portal for Korean dramas. When the highly anticipated Korean drama Sweet Home was released on Netflix， 22 million viewers watched the show in its first month.

By sleekly6 presenting its products on Korean dramas as a harbinger7 of cool， Subway is also presenting a fresh image to American viewers who are increasingly watching the shows.

Pristinely8 clean Subway shops pop with bright colors and serve as the setting for business meetings， social gossip and dates for beautiful couples. Instead of cookies and tea， elderly Korean TV characters keep freshly wrapped Subway sandwiches at the ready; you never can know when an unexpected guest will drop by and crave an Italian sub.

Product placement in Korean shows began in earnest in 2010， when South Korea’s stringent broadcasting laws eased restrictions on the practice in an effort to increase network revenues and promote Korean goods. In 2018， South Korea’s networks sold US$114 million worth of product placement， up 15 per cent from the previous year， according to Soobum Lee， a mass communication professor at Incheon National University.

Shows collect an average of about US$900，000 from product placements， although 2016’s Descendants of the Sun sold triple that amount， Lee said. It was also criticised by some viewers for excessive product placement.

Other US companies， like Papa John’s Pizza， have used product placements in Korean dramas， but none are as ubiquitous as Subway.

Keeping up with trends， Subway has begun teasing new sandwiches on shows. The company released its own minidrama on YouTube， Someway， about a young woman who develops a crush on a Subway employee and regularly eats at his location to win his affection.

Each episode begins with a character expressing fondness for a new sandwich variety， like one made with Altermeat， a meat substitute. The first episode of Someway has more than 1.3 million views.

Subway opened its first South Korea location in 1992. Now there are more than 430 Subways in the country， its second-largest footprint in Asia， behind China.

To continually appeal to its target demographic of 15- to 25-year-olds， Subway is also becoming more inventive with how it is presented. On the drama Memories of the Alhambra， gamers competing in an augmented reality game collected valuable swords and coins by going to Subway.

In real life， newer restaurants with digital menu boards display the chain’s appearances on shows.

Product placement “was a relatively cheap way to get us brand awareness，” said Colin Clark， the country director for Subway in South Korea. “It was something the other brands were doing but weren’t really kind of owning that space the way Subway started doing.”

Brands like Subway will soon be able to do more traditional advertising on South Korean television. In January， the Korea Communications Commission announced plans to allow commercial breaks on terrestrial stations.

Product placement is not likely to disappear， though.

Mr Clark said that terrestrial advertising was too expensive and that those stations did not reach Subway’s desired young customer base， which frequently streams episodes on phones.

Besides， the practice of product placement has already become a plot point9.

On the show Because This Is My First Life， the lead character dreams of becoming a television writer. When she lands a job in the industry， her assignment is to jam product placements into the scripts of popular Korean dramas.

在講述逃亡者和保鏢故事的韓劇《守護者K2》中，一名男子在接受除顫器治療時進入了夢境。

瀕死之際，他回想起帶曾經(jīng)的愛人去賽百味餐廳，然后去公園野餐，溫柔地喂她三明治和軟飲料——賽百味的商標正對著鏡頭。

這一細節(jié)并非敘事的偶然，而是韓國的廣播電視監(jiān)管規(guī)定及賽百味聲勢浩大的韓劇廣告植入帶來的。賽百味是美國三明治連鎖品牌，以一英尺長、售價五美元的三明治聞名。

“有玩笑說：‘如果賽百味每次出現(xiàn)我都喝一杯，還沒播完一半我就得醉了。’”芝加哥的韓劇評論記者金在河（音譯）女士說，“所有人都說：‘我從沒買到過看起來那么好吃、有那么多肉的賽百味三明治。’”

電視節(jié)目中植入廣告在全球范圍內普遍存在。但是，韓國禁止地面頻道在節(jié)目中插播商業(yè)廣告，所以許多韓國公司不得不另辟蹊徑將商品呈現(xiàn)在觀眾面前。隨著韓劇愈發(fā)受到國際觀眾的喜愛，全球品牌也盡力參與其中。

沒有公司在這方面比得上賽百味。自1965年在美國康涅狄格州布里奇波特市成立以來，賽百味已成為全球門店最多的快餐連鎖品牌。

賽百味并未透露其產品總共在多少部韓劇中出現(xiàn)過，但《紐約時報》的一項非正式統(tǒng)計顯示有17部。這意味著很多人都看到了賽百味的冷肉切片。在全球擁有超過2.03億會員的網(wǎng)飛已經(jīng)成為韓劇的主要門戶網(wǎng)站。備受期待的韓劇《甜蜜家園》在網(wǎng)飛上線后，首月即有2200萬人觀看。

賽百味在韓劇中巧妙地將其產品打造成時髦的象征，也向越來越多觀看韓劇的美國觀眾展示了全新的形象。

潔凈如新、色彩鮮明的賽百味門店成了商務會議、社交八卦和養(yǎng)眼情侶約會的場所。韓劇中的老年角色不再準備餅干和茶，而是時刻備著剛剛包好的賽百味三明治——誰知道何時會有不速之客來訪，想吃個意式三明治呢。

韓劇中的廣告植入真正始于2010年。當時，為增加廣播電視網(wǎng)絡收入并推廣韓國商品，韓國嚴格的廣播電視法放松了對于廣告植入的限制。據(jù)仁川大學大眾傳播學教授李秀范統(tǒng)計，韓國廣播電視網(wǎng)絡2018年通過銷售植入式廣告獲得1.14億美元，同比增長15%。

李秀范說，電視劇的廣告植入收入平均為90萬美元左右，2016年的《太陽的后裔》更是賣出了3倍于均值的廣告。但也有觀眾批評該劇廣告植入過多。

棒約翰披薩等其他美國公司也曾在韓劇中植入廣告，但都不似賽百味這般無孔不入。

緊跟潮流的賽百味開始在節(jié)目中賣弄新款三明治。公司在優(yōu)兔上發(fā)布了自制迷你劇《不知何故》，講述一年輕女子暗戀一位賽百味員工，于是定期光顧他工作的門店，只為贏得他的好感。

每集開頭都有一個角色表達對某新款三明治的喜愛，比如使用Altermeat素肉制作的三明治。《不知何故》第一集觀看量超過了130萬。

賽百味于1992年開設了首家韓國分店。如今，韓國有超過430家賽百味，位居亞洲第二，僅次于中國。

為了持續(xù)吸引15至25歲的目標人群，賽百味在廣告形式上也越來越有創(chuàng)意。在韓劇《阿爾罕布拉宮的回憶》中，參加增強現(xiàn)實游戲的玩家會去賽百味收集珍貴的寶劍和錢幣。

現(xiàn)實中，采用電子菜單的新店會配上賽百味的影視劇照。

賽百味韓國業(yè)務總監(jiān)科林·克拉克說，植入式廣告“以一種相對廉價的方式提高了賽百味的品牌知名度。其他品牌也做過類似的事，但都沒有像賽百味剛開始那樣氣勢如虹”。

包括賽百味在內的各大品牌很快就能增加在韓國電視上的傳統(tǒng)廣告了。2021年1月，韓國通信委員會宣布將允許地面頻道插播廣告。

不過，植入式廣告不太可能消失。

克拉克稱，地面頻道廣告太貴，而且無法觸達賽百味的期望客群——常用手機看劇的年輕人。

此外，廣告植入已經(jīng)成為重要情節(jié)。

韓劇《今生是第一次》的主角夢想成為一名電視編劇。她終于在該行業(yè)找到一份工作，任務就是將廣告強行植入熱門韓劇的劇本之中。

1 defibrillator除顫器，通過電擊控制心肌運動的醫(yī)療儀器。? 2 quirk（尤指偶發(fā)的）怪事。? 3 product placement植入式廣告，為廣告目的在電影或電視節(jié)目中使用某產品。

4 terrestrial陸地上的，地面上的（相對于衛(wèi)星而言）。? 5 cold cuts切成片的冷肉。? 6 sleekly圓滑地。

7 harbinger（常指不好的）預兆，兆頭。? 8 pristinely嶄新地，原始地。

9 plot point重要情節(jié)，劇情轉折點。