Cultural misstep? German car dealership allegedly had women in kimonos to promote South Korean vehicles

Dealership promotes Kia cars with employees wearing kimonos

Differentiating unfamiliar cultures can be a challenging task for companies operating globally.

However, companies are expected to exercise due diligence, especially when drawing on cultural elements for marketing and promotional purposes.

Recently, a German car dealership group Hugo Pfohe drew criticism after it allegedly had women wearing kimonos — traditional Japanese attire — to promote cars from the South Korean brand Kia.

Professor Seo Kyung-deok of Sungshin Women’s University, who is well-known for promoting South Korean culture and history globally, highlighted the issue in his Instagram post on Monday (2 Feb).

Venue was decorated with Chinese elements too

According to Professor Seo, Hugo Pfohe had recently opened a new Kia dealership in Schwerin, Germany.

An event was held to celebrate the opening, which was reportedly described as having “Korean decorations”.

However, women, believed to be employees, were seen wearing kimonos at the event.

Moreover, the venue was also decorated with Chinese elements, such as dragons and red paper lanterns.

Notably, a screenshot of the car dealership’s now-deleted Instagram Reel also showed a lantern with the Chinese character 福 (fú), meaning “fortune”.

German companies misrepresent Korean culture

“This event is not the fault of Kia, but rather a result of a lack of understanding of Korean culture by local businesses,” Professor Seo wrote.

This isn’t the first time a German company has been called out for a misunderstanding of Korean culture.

Professor Seo noted that, recently, the German supermarket chain Aldi also came under fire for labelling the Korean dish kimchi as “Japanese kimchi” on its website.

Despite this, Professor Seo stressed that rather than “just criticising German companies for their continued distortion of Korean culture”, people should amplify their efforts to “properly inform” others about it first, adding that he will do his best to do so.

MS News has reached out to Hugo Pfohe for a statement.

Also read: Finland PM apologises after Miss Finland & lawmakers criticised for racist ‘slant-eye’ gestures

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Featured image adapted from @seokyoungduk on Instagram.