Taekwondo on UK TV advert (commercial in American)

[andyjeffries]

I don't know if you've all seen this but the Coca-Cola Olympic 2012 advert on UK TV featuring music artists Mark Ronson and Katy B shows quite a bit of Taekwondo.

 

[RobinTKD]

I've not seen that full length advert, but i did see a 30secs one last night, i assume they're trying to garner some interest for the lesser known sports for London 2012, like the archer they had there too.

Also, I saw the Mexican TKD team paid a visit to teamGB today, not entirely sure what i was about, if they trained together or not, but there were a lot of photo's flying around on twitter.

 

[puunui]

Must be getting old. I don't recognize or know anyone in that video, including Mark Ronson and Katy B. But the taekwondo part was cool.

 

[chrispillertkd]

Meh.

They successfully made table tennis appear more exciting than Taekwon-Do.

There was a commercial for VISA (IIRC) that aired in 1988 around the time of the Seoul Olympics that had a single shot of a Taekwon-Doin doing a flying roundhouse kick on a paddle in slow motion. It made Taekwon-Do appear quite cool; powerful yet elegant.

Pax,

Chris

 

[puunui]

Meh.

They successfully made table tennis appear more exciting than Taekwon-Do.

I didn't think so. The table tennis guy reminded me of forrest gump when he played in China.

 

[ETinCYQX]

I didn't think so. The table tennis guy reminded me of forrest gump when he played in China.

I thought it was great. Olympic level Taekwondo is a beautiful thing to watch IMO if you understand what you are looking at.

 

[bugatabugata]

The conspiracy theorist in me methinks that there might be a good reason for the extra tkd coverage. I read an article in the Telegraph a while back about a promising UK feather-weight -- "Headhunter" Jade Jones (here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ol...s-aiming-high-in-her-Games-taekwondo-bid.html). Soooo, the UK-ers might be eyeing the gold...Just sayin' :wink:

 

[Dirty Dog]

I thought it was great. Olympic level Taekwondo is a beautiful thing to watch IMO if you understand what you are looking at.

I know there are plenty of people who agree with you, but I'm not one of them. We were at the finals for the US Olympic team this weekend, and I always leave feeling that it's really sad that WTF sparring uses such a small section of what TKD has to offer.
There were a number of kids from our school there with us, and they couldn't believe that hands were useless. I explained how the rules worked, and the consensus amoung these 10-11 year old kids was basically 'I guess... but it's silly to fight without using your hands".

 

[ETinCYQX]

Hands are far from useless. They score less often but punches are very effective for breaking timing etc.

Please don't take offense but there are very very few 10-11 year old kids who can appreciate most sports at that level including Taekwondo. It's not any different from me thinking curling is boring, because I don't know anything about curling.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Hands are far from useless. They score less often but punches are very effective for breaking timing etc.

Please don't take offense but there are very very few 10-11 year old kids who can appreciate most sports at that level including Taekwondo. It's not any different from me thinking curling is boring, because I don't know anything about curling.

There were a number of punches thrown, and some of them were excellent. But not a single point scored with hands. Not one. Including one punch that hit Mr Lopez hard enough to hear the impact in the stands. You couldn't hear the kicks landing anywhere near as solidly. But no point.

And I agree with those kids. WTF sparring uses a teeny tiny portion of what TKD has to offer. The ruleset is sad.

 

[andyjeffries]

The conspiracy theorist in me methinks that there might be a good reason for the extra tkd coverage. I read an article in the Telegraph a while back about a promising UK feather-weight -- "Headhunter" Jade Jones (here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ol...s-aiming-high-in-her-Games-taekwondo-bid.html). Soooo, the UK-ers might be eyeing the gold...Just sayin' :wink:

Yeah, I don't think it's a conspiracy theory at all. I think the song (and TV advert) is highlighting some sports where we have great prospects. Taekwondo is certainly one of them. We have a current world champion (Sarah Stevenson) and the number one world ranked in his division (Aaron Cook) as well as the prospect of the young Jade Jones. They are actually getting publicity quite a bit recently. Jade was on the Jonathan Ross Show the other week (one of the most popular talk shows here in the UK).

We're not just eyeing the gold, we're going to be grabbing (at least) one!

Can't wait!!!

 

[ralphmcpherson]

I thought it was great. Olympic level Taekwondo is a beautiful thing to watch IMO if you understand what you are looking at.

I agree, but like you say, you need to understand what you're looking at, and most people out there dont, unfortunately. Its like 'curling' or synchronised swimming, only those that do it, or have done it seem interested in it. Its a shame, tkd can be beautiful yet fierce and aggressive looking when done certain ways.

 

[chrispillertkd]

I agree, but like you say, you need to understand what you're looking at, and most people out there dont, unfortunately. Its like 'curling' or synchronised swimming, only those that do it, or have done it seem interested in it. Its a shame, tkd can be beautiful yet fierce and aggressive looking when done certain ways.

Well, yes and no. I do know what to look for and it still was a boring presentation. But the commercial isn't geared to people who are KKW TKD fans. It's aired to the general public. If the goal was to present the various sports as being exciting for viewers to watch then it didn't do such a great job for Taekwon-Do. That's why I mentioned the 1988 commercial. It shows that such a thing can be done well.

Pax,

Chris

 

[andyjeffries]

Well, yes and no. I do know what to look for and it still was a boring presentation. But the commercial isn't geared to people who are KKW TKD fans. It's aired to the general public. If the goal was to present the various sports as being exciting for viewers to watch then it didn't do such a great job for Taekwon-Do. That's why I mentioned the 1988 commercial. It shows that such a thing can be done well.

My favourite advert for Taekwondo was the one with Lee Evans for Adidas (Lee Evans is a famous comedian in the UK):

 

[ETinCYQX]

There were a number of punches thrown, and some of them were excellent. But not a single point scored with hands. Not one. Including one punch that hit Mr Lopez hard enough to hear the impact in the stands. You couldn't hear the kicks landing anywhere near as solidly. But no point.

And I agree with those kids. WTF sparring uses a teeny tiny portion of what TKD has to offer. The ruleset is sad.

Its hard to understand exactly what goes into WTF competition if you've never done it.

All you're seeing is kicks which is a very very small part of sport Taekwondo. What's involved, even as you line up and put your helmet on, is strategy being played and each player trying to impose his own plan. "Do I want open stance or closed stance? Close in or make him come to me?" Even that one movement backwards to counter with a kick, that takes years to perfect and there's a dozen different things you're doing there. It's just as easy for me to dismiss soccer, because I don't know anything about it.

 

[ATC]

Cool vid. The red hogus helped a lot with this as Red is Coke colors. But cool none the less.

 

[igillman]

My cousins son is one of the generic TKD people.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Its hard to understand exactly what goes into WTF competition if you've never done it.

All you're seeing is kicks which is a very very small part of sport Taekwondo. What's involved, even as you line up and put your helmet on, is strategy being played and each player trying to impose his own plan. "Do I want open stance or closed stance? Close in or make him come to me?" Even that one movement backwards to counter with a kick, that takes years to perfect and there's a dozen different things you're doing there. It's just as easy for me to dismiss soccer, because I don't know anything about it.

The mistake you're making is assuming that I've never done it. I'm a KKW BB, and it wasn't one of the oft-debated "gimmes" that Dan holders in other systems often get. When I joined this Moo Duk Kwan/Kukkiwon school, I made it a point NOT to talk about my prior ITF training, and when asked, I said things like "I watch a lot of MA movies...".
You're not telling me anything about WTF sparring that I don't already know. It is still an unalterable fact that the rules for WTF sparring allow the use of only a tiny fraction of what TKD has to offer. And that is sad.

 

[miguksaram]

My favourite advert for Taekwondo was the one with Lee Evans for Adidas (Lee Evans is a famous comedian in the UK):

That is still hilarious! I remember seeing that some time ago.

 

[oftheherd1]

...

And I agree with those kids. WTF sparring uses a teeny tiny portion of what TKD has to offer. The ruleset is sad.

I understand your, and your students dismay at TKD sport rules. I sometimes feel it is a wrong approach myself. But ...

I remember when TKD and Karate had many movements that were considered to be maiming or lethal. That is not what I want in a sport. Especially since sport TKD uses full contact rather than demonstration of control. We don't allow bare knuckles or biting in boxing either.

So I guess we are stuck with some rules to prevent injury or death.