Playlist Sunday: CF Jingles
Unless the commercials are about makeup, a majority of South Korean commercials, better known as CFs, tend to land on the corner of cheesy and can occasionally be overly exaggerated. However, we could say the same for some K-pop acts and K-Dramas, and, well, we all love them for it! So that’s why at KultScene, we’ve put together a list of our favorite CF jingles performed by K-pop artists, ranging from the hysterically corny to the overtly sweet ones.
This Fanta commercial titled Fanta Idol had potential of being a rather studious one, considering how it’s centered around students, played by singer and YG Entertainment artist Kang Seungyoon and actress Baek Jinhee. But it’d be a bit boring if you just had people singing about a sugary carbonated drink, right? So who better to cast to heighten and take the commercial to a whole another level of entertainment other than funny man Lee Kwangsoo? I’m glad the director and his team realized that aside from pleasing the music loving fan girls’ hearts, that they had to add a comedic concept to the video in order to reach a wider range of audiences and to promote sales. Although it’s a lengthy and cringe worthy commercial, it was an entertaining three minutes and forty-nine seconds well spent.
–Tam
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You’re My First isn’t one of INFINITE’s best songs, but as a funky dance song with a smattering of the group’s signature synchronized dance moves, the Samsung Galaxy Player ad works. Each of the seven members had individual, shorter ads for general commercial use, but the group’s short music video for the song features all of the members, while highlighting L’s dancing while watching videos on his new phone. INFINITE looks good and makes the product look good, so there’s not much more to ask for.
–Tamar
2NE1‘s CF for Fiore for the Yamaha motorcycle not only gave us a good commercial with great styling back then, but also a music video for their song Don’t Stop The Music. The only difference in the song from the original is that every now and then we hear them saying “Fio, Fio, Fiore.” It’s really funny when I listen to the original song and I catch myself singing the CF version. The girls managed to stay true to themselves and even if the CF is a bit cheesy, they look and act fierce.
— Alejandro
SNSD and 2PM‘s Cabi Song music video for Caribbean Bay will get you excited for the Summer months ahead. They manage to create a mini love story based on the training of the Caribbean Bay lifeguards, SNSD members Seohyun, Yuri, and Yoona and 2PM’s Taecyeon, Chansung, and Nichkhun. The song showcases the vocal talents of both groups and creates the perfect background music for the plot of the music video. Aside from the love story theme, the MV shows off the beautifully toned bodies of the idols.
— Tara
When I look back at Super Junior eras, A-cha is probably one of my favorites style-wise, so of course I’ll choose a CF from that time. Being one of Asia’s biggest (fame and size wise) groups, it comes to no surprise that Lotte Duty Free loves to feature them on their ads. With So I’m Loving You, the guys delivered a signature Super Junior song, complete with the right doses of cheesiness and upbeat dance music. I don’t know if dancing mid-twenty year old men makes women run to the shop, but maybe them being plastered all over the store is incentive enough.
–Alexis
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Nothing says “buy a phone!” like nine beautiful girls dancing in perfect unison and singing about love as addictive as chocolate. If you disagree with this statement then you don’t understand how advertising works and you’re missing out on what is actually a great song amongst Girls’ Generation’s perfect discography. Chocolate Love sounds like a simplified test run for SNSD’s later single Run Devil Run. It has an almost identical beat, which actually plays by itself for long runs of this song, lending the song a stripped back, more mature sound. To contrast this the song contains teetering synths and horns to hold back what could have been a serious song. Vocally, it also has some interesting things for a SNSD song. The chorus is a satisfyingly fun mesh of the different voices of the group with Jessica’s sickly sweet vocal as the major one. As always, SNSD go above and beyond what is expected to produce a commercial song that stands alone as a part of their career.
–Joe
What’s your favorite CF? Share your picks in the comment section below and be sure to subscribe to the site and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr to keep up with all of our posts.
