Korean TV’s Unlikely Star:Subway Sandwiches难以置信的韩剧之星：赛百味三明治

In an episode of the Korean television show The K2， which takes place in a world of fugitives and bodyguards， a man is being treated with a defibrillator1 when he enters into a dream state.

在讲述逃亡者和保镖故事的韩剧《守护者K2》中，一名男子在接受除颤器治疗时进入了梦境。

On the fringe of death， he recalls taking a past love to a Subway restaurant and to a park for a picnic， where he gently feeds her a sandwich and soft drink with the Subway logo facing the camera.

濒死之际，他回想起带曾经的爱人去赛百味餐厅，然后去公园野餐，温柔地喂她三明治和软饮料——赛百味的商标正对着镜头。

The detail is not a narrative quirk2. It is a result of South Korea’s broadcasting regulations and the aggressive use of product placement3 in the country’s shows by Subway， the US sandwich chain famous for its US$5 foot-longs.

这一细节并非叙事的偶然，而是韩国的广播电视监管规定及赛百味声势浩大的韩剧广告植入带来的。赛百味是美国三明治连锁品牌，以一英尺长、售价五美元的三明治闻名。

“People joke， ‘If I had a drink every time Subway popped up， I’d be drunk before the first half is over，’” said Ms Jae-Ha Kim， a journalist in Chicago who reviews Korean dramas. “Everyone here’s like， ‘I never got a Subway sandwich that looked that good， with that much meat.’”

“有玩笑说：‘如果赛百味每次出现我都喝一杯，还没播完一半我就得醉了。’”芝加哥的韩剧评论记者金在河（音译）女士说，“所有人都说：‘我从没买到过看起来那么好吃、有那么多肉的赛百味三明治。’”

Product placement in TV shows is a reality the world over. But South Korea’s terrestrial4 stations are prevented from inserting commercial breaks during programming， meaning many Korean companies must be creative about getting their wares in front of viewers. As Korean dramas have become more popular with international audiences， global brands have pushed to be part of the action.

电视节目中植入广告在全球范围内普遍存在。但是，韩国禁止地面频道在节目中插播商业广告，所以许多韩国公司不得不另辟蹊径将商品呈现在观众面前。随着韩剧愈发受到国际观众的喜爱，全球品牌也尽力参与其中。

And no company has pushed harder than Subway， which has grown into the world’s largest fast-food chain by store count since its founding in 1965 in Bridgeport， Connecticut.

没有公司在这方面比得上赛百味。自1965年在美国康涅狄格州布里奇波特市成立以来，赛百味已成为全球门店最多的快餐连锁品牌。

Subway did not provide a total of how many Korean dramas its products had appeared in， but an informal tally by The New York Times counted appearances on 17 shows. That can add up to a lot of people seeing the company’s cold cuts5. Netflix， with more than 203 million worldwide members， has become a leading portal for Korean dramas. When the highly anticipated Korean drama Sweet Home was released on Netflix， 22 million viewers watched the show in its first month.

赛百味并未透露其产品总共在多少部韩剧中出现过，但《纽约时报》的一项非正式统计显示有17部。这意味着很多人都看到了赛百味的冷肉切片。在全球拥有超过2.03亿会员的网飞已经成为韩剧的主要门户网站。备受期待的韩剧《甜蜜家园》在网飞上线后，首月即有2200万人观看。

By sleekly6 presenting its products on Korean dramas as a harbinger7 of cool， Subway is also presenting a fresh image to American viewers who are increasingly watching the shows.

赛百味在韩剧中巧妙地将其产品打造成时髦的象征，也向越来越多观看韩剧的美国观众展示了全新的形象。

Pristinely8 clean Subway shops pop with bright colors and serve as the setting for business meetings， social gossip and dates for beautiful couples. Instead of cookies and tea， elderly Korean TV characters keep freshly wrapped Subway sandwiches at the ready; you never can know when an unexpected guest will drop by and crave an Italian sub.

洁净如新、色彩鲜明的赛百味门店成了商务会议、社交八卦和养眼情侣约会的场所。韩剧中的老年角色不再准备饼干和茶，而是时刻备着刚刚包好的赛百味三明治——谁知道何时会有不速之客来访，想吃个意式三明治呢。

Product placement in Korean shows began in earnest in 2010， when South Korea’s stringent broadcasting laws eased restrictions on the practice in an effort to increase network revenues and promote Korean goods. In 2018， South Korea’s networks sold US$114 million worth of product placement， up 15 per cent from the previous year， according to Soobum Lee， a mass communication professor at Incheon National University.

韩剧中的广告植入真正始于2010年。当时，为增加广播电视网络收入并推广韩国商品，韩国严格的广播电视法放松了对于广告植入的限制。据仁川大学大众传播学教授李秀范统计，韩国广播电视网络2018年通过销售植入式广告获得1.14亿美元，同比增长15%。

Shows collect an average of about US$900，000 from product placements， although 2016’s Descendants of the Sun sold triple that amount， Lee said. It was also criticised by some viewers for excessive product placement.

李秀范说，电视剧的广告植入收入平均为90万美元左右，2016年的《太阳的后裔》更是卖出了3倍于均值的广告。但也有观众批评该剧广告植入过多。

Other US companies， like Papa John’s Pizza， have used product placements in Korean dramas， but none are as ubiquitous as Subway.

棒约翰披萨等其他美国公司也曾在韩剧中植入广告，但都不似赛百味这般无孔不入。

Keeping up with trends， Subway has begun teasing new sandwiches on shows. The company released its own minidrama on YouTube， Someway， about a young woman who develops a crush on a Subway employee and regularly eats at his location to win his affection.

紧跟潮流的赛百味开始在节目中卖弄新款三明治。公司在优兔上发布了自制迷你剧《不知何故》，讲述一年轻女子暗恋一位赛百味员工，于是定期光顾他工作的门店，只为赢得他的好感。

Each episode begins with a character expressing fondness for a new sandwich variety， like one made with Altermeat， a meat substitute. The first episode of Someway has more than 1.3 million views.

每集开头都有一个角色表达对某新款三明治的喜爱，比如使用Altermeat素肉制作的三明治。《不知何故》第一集观看量超过了130万。

Subway opened its first South Korea location in 1992. Now there are more than 430 Subways in the country， its second-largest footprint in Asia， behind China.