[ 매드타임스 박재항 대기자] “What do ‘Lollipop’ and ‘Zero’ have in common?”
It seems like such an absurd question. Is it a lollipop, meaning a lollipop like Chupa Chups? Isn’t the meaning of ‘zero’ infinitely broad, from the number ‘0’ to the state of ‘nothing’ to a philosophical question or meaning? When it comes to eating like lollipop candy, it reminds me of Coke Zero, which is a type of Coca-Cola that is said to have removed sugar. It seems to fit roughly. I’ll narrow it down a bit more kindly and ask the question.
“What do the ads for LG Electronics’ mobile phone Lollipop series in 2009 and the Coca-Cola Zero ads in 2023 have in common?”
If it’s a lollipop commercial, many people will remember it. In 2009, a young girl group appeared together in Big Bang, which was creating a sensation as a new boy group at the time, and sang and danced together. 2NE1 was just formed at that time as a girl group that debuted through advertisements for a series of flashy mobile phones targeting teenagers and young people after 4 years of traineeship under the agency YG along with Big Bang. The original song of some of the commercial songs was ranked #1 on music charts, and 2NE became the best girl group in one fell swoop. A part of the original music video longer than 3 minutes was used as an advertisement, but it is unknown which of the original song and CM song, or the music video longer than 3 minutes and a 15-second advertisement had more influence. While teaching college students for the past two years, in the first class, I asked them what memorable advertisements they had seen in their childhood before middle school, and the overwhelming majority of students chose this lollipop advertisement. Even people in their late 50s, older than college students, all remembered this advertisement and said they sympathized with the selection of college students.
It seems that the answer to the question is somewhat visible. New Jeans, a girl group made up of teenagers and releasing their debut album in 2022, released a single on April 3, 2023 along with a music video announcing that it was made with Coca-Cola’s Coke Studio. <제로(Zero)>announced. The single topped the Genie music chart. Naturally, there are a few things that Lollipop and Zero have in common.
– Ad featuring a girl group
– The CM song was also released as an official song.
– The song released like that topped the music charts.
There are other points that seem to reflect a time span of about 15 years.
– Lollipop’s 2NE1 appeared alongside a popular boy group. On the other hand, New Jeans is a top-notch girl group that has already topped charts in each country with their debut album. Coca-Cola itself is overwhelming in its status as a global brand, and this commercial and song also became a hot topic around the world.
– There is no direct mention of Lollipop’s performance as a mobile phone. ‘Color is rainbow’, ‘My style’, ‘Twinkle twinkle star’, etc. Although it took the form of writing some lyrics from a song that children sing while playing, New Jeans’ <제로>After saying ‘Coca-Cola is delicious’, he adds ‘because it’s zero’, followed by ‘Sweetness as it is/Zero anxiety’, and at the end, ‘If it’s delicious, eat it again’, making it a point to buy it right away.
– There is no product exposure in Lollipop’s music video. Only in commercials, in some scenes in the music video, the members of Big Bang and 2NE1 carry cell phone lollipops. In Zero, the music video starts with the collaboration with Coke Studio at the beginning, and there is a scene where you drink directly from a can full of candles in the refrigerator.
2NE1 and Big Bang’s lollipop in 2009 was commercial music first, followed by commercials. In 2023, New Jeans’ Zero erased the line between advertising and commercial music. 2NE1 could not be seen in the 2010 lollipop commercials. They appeared in a competitor’s Anycall ad. It was a huge twist. Unfortunately, smartphones were already spreading rapidly at that time, and Anycall was dying. No college student remembered 2NE1’s Anycall advertisement.
There is another element of reversal in New Jeans’ zero advertisement that is definitely different from the previous era. I’ll cover that in the next column.
※ Jaehang Park Mad Times waitlist, CEO of G_BAT, adjunct professor at Ewha Womans University and Hallym University
Copyright © MADTimes Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited
