Smokes Bad, Booze Good

South Korean televisions shows have pretty much fazed out scenes of smoking, but scenes of heavy drinking?  No problem!:

"Article 28 of the country’s broadcasting review regulation stipulates that TV broadcasts 'must exercise prudence when dealing with obscene, decadent subjects, narcotics, alcohol, smoking, superstition, gambling, vanity, luxury and wasteful trends.'

Standards weren’t necessarily applied equally to these supposed ills to society. For example, scenes with TV stars smoking weren’t difficult to see in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. But nowadays, it’s virtually impossible to see such scenes, as they’re excluded from preproduction. When a rerun of an old show or a movie is aired, such footage is often blurred out.

But drinking, by all accounts, seems to be going the opposite direction - it’s not only common to find shows featuring drinking nowadays, some are even seen depicting booze in a romantic fashion."

 Other than sports and the news, I watch very little Korean television.  But I would only add that a year ago my college, with great fanfare, introduced a campus-wide ban on smoking with great big banners everywhere.

As of today, if you want to find dudes smoking just stop in front of one of these many banners.  Or a campus bathroom.