• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.1062-1071
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• 2016

Olympic uniforms emphasize aesthetics along with sports fashion trends and tendencies to display national competitiveness through colorful designs that use the national flag or colors as motifs. Korea needs to enhance the national brand through international sporting events such as the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games (30 years after the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games); therefore, a multilateral analysis is required to promote a global image of Korea. This study presents a development direction for more diverse national brand values for Korea through design research on Olympic uniforms. Research methods investigated the concepts and changes of the Geongongamli, and Taegeuk symbols as well as Olympic uniforms based on literature data and existing studies using uniforms. An Olympic uniform using symbols of the Korean flag was designed through a case analysis of Olympic uniform designs of countries that participated in the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games and 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games that reflect the countries' image. The research scope excluded uniforms for the actual games and limited the uniforms to official uniforms for the opening ceremony that represent the characteristics of each country; consequently, we analyzed 70 uniforms of 162 countries of the Winter Olympic Games. As a result, official national symbols were more frequently reflected than unofficial symbols in the uniform designs of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games with more frequencies of direct reflection than indirect reflection. Korea's national brand is expected to enhanced through a uniform that expresses Korea's image at international events and global exchanges.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.43
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• pp.289-326
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• 2016

The strategy of "soft power" in the foreign and internal policies of modern Russia is one of the important factors in the implementation of public policies, and the influence of soft power is increasingly becoming stronger and gaining new forms and methods of implementation. The Russian government exerts efforts to form a positive image of Russia in the international arena, in order to strengthen the country's competitiveness, based on active use of "soft power." Currently, Russian cultural policy is developing in two main directions. In the internal policy sphere, the Russian government emphasizes national unity and civic solidarity, and fosters a sense of patriotism and national pride. In the sphere of foreign policy, the Russian government is attempting to regain its status as a great power and to create a new image of Russia that is different from that of the former Soviet Russia. In this article, we examine and analyze various aspects of the hidden political mechanisms involved in mega-sporting events, in particular the Sochi Olympics, from the viewpoint of Russian internal and foreign policy. We address the major functions of mega-sporting events and their influence in the political realm. The political impact of mega-sports projects can even compensate for economic losses incurred during the preparation and hosting of the Olympic games. In this respect, we can define mega-sporting events as one of the main components of soft power; such events reflect the basic directions of internal and foreign policy in post-Soviet Russia, which are to form and promote an image of Russia using national branding. In order to fairly and objectively analyze the recognition and perception held by Russians of the significance of mega-sporting events, in this work, we carefully studied the results of various surveys conducted by the Russian research organization VCIOM (Russian Public Opinion Research Center) before and after Russia hosted the Winter Olympic games in Sochi (2014) and the Summer Olympic games in Kazan (2013). Furthermore, on the basis of the ranking of national brands by Simon Anholt (Anholt Nation Brands Index - NBI), and on the basis of the ranking of 100 national brands conducted by the British consulting company "Brand Finance" (Brand Finance Nation Brands 100), we minutely trace the development and qualitative change in Russia's image and the role of the mega-sporting projects. This article also examines the Kremlin's internal and foreign policies that were successfully carried out in practical terms. This study contributes to the understanding of the value of mega-sporting events from the point of view of cultural policy of the current ruling party of Russia. This standpoint allows us to outline the main directions of Russian cultural policy and to suggest perspectives on the branding strategy of modern Russia, including strategies related to consolidating Russia's position in the international arena.