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Game developer Neowiz¡¯s staff get a cleansing pack massage at their office on June 23, 2005 at an event co-hosted by their company and cosmetics brand Kiehl's.
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With the number of so-called Metrosexuals -- youthful men who spare no expense in the cultivation of their outward appearance - continuing to increase, a whole new group of consumers is coming into its own. British journalist Mark Simpson coined the term in an article from 1994 ¡°Mirror Men,¡± and it later found its way into the book of marketing terms.
The U.S. economics magazine Business Week introduced the explosively fast-growing market that surrounds this group in its most recent addition that the general wisdom in the marketing world now is that the hitherto fore used methods of marketing to men is no longer going to work.
Wendy Liebmann, president and founder of WSL Strategic Retail said that with the divorce rate reaching as high as 50 percent and the number of single moms ever increasing, many young males come to take on their mother¡¯s spending habits. Last October, weekly magazine Time ran an article about Metrosexual fever that swept through Asia under the title ¡°Mirror, Mirror¡¦¡±
Ogilvy & Mather said that last year Metrosexuals in Bangkok spent 250,000 (W 6.4 million, US$1=W960) to 350,000 Baht (W 8.9 million), which is three to four times more than their more down-to-earth counterparts adorning themselves.
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New male recruits to a cosmetic firm put on makeup during an orientation at the firm.
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The Metrosexual trend has started to sweep Korea as well. In a survey conducted in May by the biggest domestic cosmetic company, Amorepacific, of 630 Korean males aged 15-49 living in the Metropolitan area, the percentage of respondents who said they had tried to use so-called ¡°cosmeceuticals¡± or massage pack increased to 62 percent this year from 55 of the previous year.
Dr. Choi Soon-hwa, of the Samsung Economic Institute said, ¡°The number of males who consider spending as entertainment is on the rise,¡± adding, ¡°This is a natural trend seen in a society where the income level is growing.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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