The NORTH PEOPLE

I've been traveling away from my PC for a few weeks (some business, some pleasure), but I hope to redeem your faith in Adventures in Kimchiland by offering up a true gem today.

A little while ago, I met up with a friend to go mountain biking in the hills outside Seoul. As we were getting ready to head out, he handed me a tag from some clothing that he’d purchased during the week. At first glance, it looked like any other clothing tag that you’d find on hiking equipment. These things generally explain how the garment is superior to competing designs thanks to advanced moisture-wicking properties or taped seams or other such features that I didn’t know I needed -- or wanted to obsess over -- until I started reading the tags.

This one from Korean company M2 takes marketing speak to a whole new level. The company borrowed the slogans “Each Experience is Unique” and “Mountain by Experience” from Millet, a French outdoor clothing company that offers some really high-end gear. The jury is still out as to whether M2 is related to Millet as I have found no obvious links between M2 and the Korean Millet site, but I am happy to be corrected on this.

Corporate structure notwithstanding, the real reward came when I opened the tag and read on...

The copywriter doesn’t appear to be able to speak any English whatsoever and has presumably just knocked up a spiel in Korean and passed it through an online translation engine like Google Translate or Yahoo! Babel Fish. For your reading pleasure, I’ve replicated the text from the tag word-for-word below. All spelling errors and grammatical disasters are courtesy of M2.

M2

MOUNTAIN BY EXPERIENCE

Outdoor Wear

To everybody whom the NORTH PEOPLE it does as a favor together Thank you. Everybody it knows well and the NORTH PEOPLE is not the enterprise which produces only the Outdoor clothing of our country top.

The NORTH PEOPLE when the product which it made with the mind which is honest is satisfied the customer until, honesty, the customer, is the company which it thinks by the natural mail boat. To raise the quality of the product and to become the enterprise which improves the quality of everybody’s obsterical.

Outdoor life and it finishes the best sleep. Up-to date new material development and the other enterprise compared to it will develop the new product first and is trusted and a footlights with the goods which it will receive the effort to sleep lazily it will not conduct.

Don't believe me? Check the images of the tag below (click for a bigger version):