"Reply 1988" has finally come to a close. Despite the enthusiastic response and high viewership ratings, the production team has been criticized for disappointing the viewers with "Eo Nam-ryu" (My Husband is Ryu Jun-yeol anyway). Online, some even praise Ryu Jun-yeol, who played the role of Kim Jung-pal (Kim Jung-hwan), as a "classic character who dedicated his life to serving others."

One netizen even created content to help Kim Jung-hwan overcome his resentment, fulfilling his love. This practice of consumers actively creating secondary content in cultural fields like beloved roles, dramas, and films has long been a practice.

But a curious phenomenon has emerged: these secondary content sources are emerging even within corporations. It all began two months ago, stemming from a sense of pity for LG Electronics. In an age where others exaggerate and talk about things they don't have, LG Electronics is hiding(?) and failing to properly promote its own strengths .

The LG monitor that caused the incident

The incident began with an article claiming that LG's 200,000 won monitors featured hardware calibration. Calibration is the process of adjusting color, temperature, and color balance according to the characteristics and properties of input/output devices like monitors to achieve a consistent standard. This feature was previously only available on monitors costing several million won.

However, the problem was that the customer service representative didn't even know the monitor had this feature, and even though there was an installation CD, the driver couldn't be found on the website. The writer lamented that there are cases where people don't know how to use a good product because they don't know about it. This post quickly spread through social media, and not only did the product go out of stock, but it also became impossible to find it on secondhand stores. This incident brought LG products back into the spotlight, and reports about LG products began pouring in on social media.

Everyone was surprised by the article that the weight of the laptop was advertised as being higher, the frame of the new mobile phone was plated but not advertised, and an experiment by a netizen that showed that the phone still worked even if it was coated in batter and fried in hot water. Furthermore, LG Electronics' marketing incompetence and product performance have become issues simultaneously as LG refrigerators have been certified overseas to work even after a tornado struck South Africa.

LG refrigerator survives a tornado

Last December, a Twitter account called 'We'll do LG marketing for you.' was created. The person who created the account stated, "This account has no relation to LG Electronics and is a personal account," and explained the reason, saying, "As a former and current LG user, I started this because I wanted to help promote LG's excellent product line without any controversy whenever it comes out."

The account is still uploading hidden capabilities of LG that have not been revealed yet, and netizens are tweeting, “Is this Chungcheong-do style marketing? How would the seller know? The buyer would know..”, “LG is a futuristic company that uses a new type of marketing method where the consumers who purchase the product do the marketing.”

LG Electronics, like Jeong-Hwan of "Response" that doesn't make a fuss

In addition, interest in LG Electronics' social contribution activities, not just its products, is growing. Consumers' unconventional affection for LG Electronics reached a fever pitch when it was revealed that the company had been providing unlimited free repairs to LG Electronics products in social welfare facilities since 2004 through its "Socially Underprivileged Care Service."

In a phone call with a media outlet, he said, “It is a social responsibility that a company should naturally fulfill, so why should we actively promote this?” and added, “It is not something that I ask anyone to know.” Additionally, it was revealed that he participated in a bidding to decide on a public mobile phone operator for soldiers, and unlike other companies, he paid '1 won', showing a 'tsundere'-like side of 'Kim Jung-hwan' in the drama.

Tsundere is a new word that means 'a character who acts cold on the outside but actually likes her'. It is similar to the character of Jeong-hwan in 'Eungpal' who likes Deok-sun and takes care of her from behind, but doesn't show it to her in front of her.

Is this a new marketing tactic, as one netizen put it? In the movie "The Intern," the protagonist, who runs a shopping mall, compares the number of ads to their profitability during a meeting and receives a report that fewer ads equate to higher clicks and sales. Regardless of this intention, he's been branded "LG Marketing, you idiot," but like actor Ryu Jun-yeol in "Reply 1988," he's reaping the benefits of a surprising (?) promotional effect.

Other hidden capabilities of LG Electronics(?)

- The LG Signature series is a designer creation of Bang & Olufsen (B&O), a high-end audio company.

The V10 is certified by the US Department of Defense's MIL-STD 810 standard. This means the device can survive 26 drops from 122cm onto concrete plywood without damage.

- V10 supports the DSD format. DSD stands for "direct stream digital," a high-quality digital audio recording format jointly developed by Philips and Sony. DSD boasts higher sound quality than CD. .

- Earphones created in collaboration with Austrian audio company AKG are provided as a bundle.