I'd like some feedback about Beckham and his role as a brand name in the Far East. I live in London, and to most fans of world football, Beckham has recently transferred to Real. Through this huge saga for the past two weeks, the various electronic media and newsprint has gone awol with this soapopera about his transfer here in England. But this is not what curiously annoys me, so much as this hoopla about Beckhams international marketabilty. The various newspapers in Spain and England, both broadsheet and tabloid has constantly reiterated that Beckham's key asset is the Far East market; though Real have themselves admitted that the next stage of their organisation is to penetrate the Far East consumer. Valdano (Real rep) has stated that the great appeal of Beckham is that he is loved throughout Asia, but of course -in reality- it is more or less concentrated in Japan. I was in South Korea last year for the WC, and their was not such sentiments there. The English press has been echoing that Beckham will bring millions to Real's coffers, since he is revered in Asia. The thing is, all of sudden, the Far East becomes just a place of commercial exploitation, where Beckham and Real becomes nothingm more than mere brand name. Real goes to Japan, does an exhibition match, makes millions by tickets, shirts and other paraphenillia, and says thank you very much, we'll see you next summer. This begs the question, is the Far East merely a cash pot for large foreign clubs to make some easy dough, and tell them to piss off? Though clubs like Feyenoord, PSV, Parma, Fulham, and Reggina have the same motives, at least they have actual players who are representative of the Far East nations.
I hate how the western media lumps all of Asia together. Here's another example of its ignorance. Koreans don't treat Beckham like a GOD like is reported by Reuters. Or a pop star even. He is deemed a fantastic foreign football player and that's it: no more adoration for him than Raul or Ronaldo or Zidane. It pisses me off how Asians are depicted as almost infantile and adolescent in their adoration for Western things. I can't speak for China or Japan or Malaysia or Thailand because I just don't know about them, but leave Korea out of this nonsense.
Man U is popular... and by extension so is Beckham in HK, Singapore, and a Malaysia, and not just w/ the Brit. ex-pats. But it remains to be seen how Beckham will be seen now that he's not with the club. Probably will still be popular, as no one really blames him for leaving.
Becks gets a lot of media exposure in China. It's hardly surprising because football is the undisputed #1 sport in China, and Becks played for Man U, one of the best clubs in the world. Man U is the most popular club team in Hong Kong, partly due to HK's British influence before 1997. I'm not sure about Mainland China though, because supporters over there seem to be more diverse. With Becks moving to Real, I'm sure a lot of Man U fans in China will be very disappointed. In all honesty, the level of adoration for Becks in China is no where as crazy as it is in Japan, where anything Western is thought to be more superior and is met with infatuation.
Then, why in Japan do they fell that Western culture is superior? The curious aspect is that the media here in London has stated that Beckham does not want his commerical influence leaked out to the West, so only Japanese journalist was invited to his gathering in Tokyo. Like American movies stars who do pop soda commerical in Japan, this would not be leaked out in the Western world. Strange, as if one identity in Asia was one of pop soda, while the rest of the world do not see that aspect of it.
It's in their blood. The Japanese are known for taking what is best in the world and integrating it into their own. After opening up to the outside world, in the 1920s and 30s Japan's industries were modelled after the British, who were then the most industrialized nation in the world. Their education system was modelled after the East Europeans, and their constitution was modelled after the French. Even the Japanese language has a lot of words borrowed from such languages as Dutch, German, French, Chinese, English, etc. One of their writing systems - kanji - is basically Chinese but with a few home-brewed characters thrown in. Think of Japan as a melting pot of ingenius ideas and ideologies from around the world. Now since Beckham epitomizes the meaning of "greatness" -- great looks, great footballing skills, great wealth, great popularity -- the Japanese, who are ever so fond of foreign superiority, have no problem as seeing him as a god-like figure, which companies like Meiji has taken full advantage of.
The commentator for Sky news here states, "the sooner Beckham gets into a Real Madrid shirt, the quicker the Asians depart with their money." Made me laugh.
Korea's definately out of this. for the guys, players like Ronaldo will bring in more attention. for the gurls, Wonbin will crush Beckham's popularity any day as of now.