As I said before, the market, in a culture dominated by consumer capitalism, is where traditional culture goes to die.
In another Korea, say that of the early 1990's, when people were concerned with the death (and revival) of traditional Korean culture, a commercial like this would have caused massive freakouts. At the very least, reducing Korean traditional culture and its icons to mere window dressing would have been casue for anger. Also, it's interesting that the image of "tradition" no longer seems out-of -place appearing next to modern conveniences such as credit cards and cellphones (There was, not even ten years ago, a popular Korean Tourism Organization poster prominently featuring a beautiful Korean woman in an elaborate hanbok talking on a cellphone because apparentlty, that symbolized som kind of fusion of "old" and "modern."It was irritatingly clichéd even at the time, but it's interesting that the image of a Chosun yangban lady using a credit card doesn't even warrant an eyebrow raise now.
