In this blog post, we will look at the reasons why people and things are overrated in a society where appearance and image are valued.
A long time ago, a case in which three college students in Korea successfully crossed the Han River on a raft made of sweets became a big social issue. At the time, they posted a video on the Internet of them crossing the Han River to criticize the overpackaging problem of Korean confectionery companies, which drew a lot of sympathy. As a result, the term “overpackaging” came back into the spotlight as the buzzword “I bought nitrogen, but got sweets instead” spread. This trend soon became an opportunity for consumers to criticize not only physical goods, but also the exaggeration and opacity that occur throughout society.
In addition, recently, the media and individuals have been criticized for over-exaggerating certain facts in socially controversial cases. For example, Pyo Chang-won, the director of the Crime Science Research Institute, criticized reporters for exaggerating the crime by using expressions such as “confidence” and associating the culprit with “human flesh and organ trafficking” in a broadcast program about the Suwon dismembered body case. This kind of reporting, which presents events in a sensational way to attract the public’s attention, fosters distrust of the media and makes the media itself feel like a “hyped-up” product. In this way, the word “hyped-up” is used in various forms in many areas, including the media, politics, and entertainment, beyond the realm of products.
Why is the word “overpackaging” often used and has such a big impact in modern society? To understand this question, it is necessary to look at the background of the expansion of this concept by comparing the past and the present. Even in the past, consumers were aware of companies trying to make profits through overpackaging, and movements and government measures against it were steadily carried out. For example, an article in Dong-A Ilbo on June 19, 1973 introduced a campaign to “stop packaging that deceives consumers,” and the KCC subsequently established appropriate packaging standards and enforced regulations. The issue of excessive packaging has been raised for a long time, but at the time it was mainly used as a concept limited to physical goods.
In modern times, the expression “overhyping” is used to describe situations where almost everything is exaggerated, not just products. People now use the word “overhyping” in various situations, such as when a person exaggerates their experience and history in an interview, when a program uses flashy expressions to compete with other programs, and when a celebrity’s reputation is overrated. As the media has developed, people have more opportunities to reveal themselves, and the tendency to use this to embellish their image has become stronger, making “over-hyping” a common phenomenon.
The spread of such over-hyping is related to several social factors. First, the social phenomenon of valuing external factors has been maximized by the development of social media and the Internet, which naturally encourages external “over-hyping.” In modern society, what is seen is considered to be a competitive edge and a key factor in expressing oneself. For example, photo editing on social media and excessive makeup or attempts to enhance one’s appearance are common among teenagers. Even elementary school students are now drawing eye lines with a computer-use marker pen, and middle and high school students routinely wear makeup to look more mature. The program “Ulsang-gaji-dae,” which was very popular a few years ago, spread the culture of editing one’s face to make it more perfect online, which instilled in teenagers the importance of external factors. This phenomenon is reinforcing the emphasis on appearance and further encouraging the desire to excessively embellish the world around oneself.
Secondly, the fact that everything is being commercialized in modern society also contributes to the spread of over-packaging. As society has gradually become more competitive, people have been under pressure to package themselves like products. Because of this, the concept of “over-packaging,” which was previously limited to products, has gradually expanded to all aspects of people, experiences, and abilities. According to Yonhap News, some large companies even use physical conditions such as height and weight as a factor in hiring evaluations. This makes people more concerned about external factors and exaggerate themselves to appear more attractive. In a society where everything, including oneself, is commercialized like this, other things are easily overhyped, and people become more sensitive to them.
Programs like “Let Me In” clearly show this phenomenon of over-hyping. These programs, in which changes in appearance become “products” that boost ratings, show a side of modern society in which individual lives and appearances are treated as products. In an era where all aspects of appearance, personality, and life are evaluated as a single “brand,” people tend to inflate and evaluate not only themselves but everything around them. Ultimately, this over-packaging is related to the social pressure to stand out in the competition.
In modern society, the development of the media and social media has made the visible an important value, and people have begun to over-pack their images and create themselves that are bigger than they really are. The public may be more sensitive to the over-packaging of confectionery companies because they find the over-packaging in their daily lives. Ultimately, before we float nitrogen cookies on the Han River, we need to reflect on how much we are trying to maintain an inflated image. In modern society, it is an era where appearance is more important than inner self, but we need to develop into a society where the true value of the inner self, not appearance, is valued.
