Starbucks hip among S. Korean women_高级精读

 

a woman walks into a small stall and eats a cheap bowl of instant noodles, paying 1,500 won. then she moves into a starbucks coffee shop, where she drinks a cup of mocha, paying 4,300 won.

surprised? this is the typical behaviour of south korean young women. they are disparagingly called "denjang girls".

the term "denjang girls" referred to female shoppers who would eat cheaply and then splash out to be seen drinking a cup of expensive coffee. now it has grown to include a new army of women in their 20s who look hip, rich and urban but are actually buying luxuries they probably can't afford.
internet users coined the term when debating the popularity of starbucks coffee among south korean women. in south korea, the coffee costs, on average, over a dollar more than in japan and the us.

despite the higher price, starbucks sales in south korea increased from 72.1 billion won in 2004 to 91.2 billion won in 2005.

ahn ji-yoon, a student at yonsei university in seoul, says she can spend two hours surfing the web for discounts on skin cream and dinner. yet she would think nothing of spending us$550 on a gucci bag.

image-savvy girls like ahn live by extremes - hunting for bargain items while spending heavily on "necessary luxuries".

"there is an ambivalence in young women shoppers," said yoo jin-hyun, of south korean market research firm cheil communications. "she would be a stingy collector of coupons and an aggressive bargain-hunter. but she would not care about buying expensive brands for clothing, drinking or fun".

(100 won=0.83 yuan)
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ambivalence: 矛盾心理

disparagingly: 蔑视地

gucci: 意大利高档时装皮具品牌

hip: 时髦的

image-savvy: 注重形象的

mocha: 磨卡咖啡

stall: 货摊

stingy: 吝啬的,小气的

won: 韩国货币单位

bonus points

splash out: 大肆挥霍

on the day she got the bonus, she splashed out on five pairs of shoes.

她拿到奖金当天就去挥霍了，一下子买了五双鞋。