http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEAAKaur0jk

I heard this CF is airing on ABC-TV, LA18

It's somewhat unexpected for me.
I can understand if Toyota chose him for Asian market (even though he is a model of Hyndai in China already)
But America? umm.. is Toyota targeting Asian Americans?

Anyway, it's interesting to hear Korean in Toyota CF for US market.

while perhaps that is something that is proud and harmless, i dun think that is a good idea. i still believe that brands should have conscious efforts of its origins and to have its manufacturing as much as possible retained in its home country and if overseas manufacturing is essential, to diversify it between several and not just one overseas country. there are many reasons why i feel so.

one shouldn't rely on any single country to be dominant in manufacturing, you will end up spoiling one single country to be rich and domineering while many other developing countries remaining poor. on the other hand, every country, no matter how rich, will have people that are blue collar and less educated but nevertheless deserved a job, and all countries should ensure its home employment rate is well taken care of before overseas investment comes to mind. also over-reliance on overseas cheap labor inevitably brings down expectation of quality and durability.

state cohesion is one of the few things that can have impact on the ethics of a business, where owners still feel obliged to answer to, as he is being of the same ethnicity or nationality with his primary clients, and with which he share common values with. the downside of going completely international is the loss of its unique identity, and that often increases the business's likelihood of over-emphasis of profts way over everything else. a business that had a cultural identity is more likely to insist on product excellence. this is not a definite relationship but is more often true than not.

for the same reasons that koreans will wish to see a korean face representing a korean brand, we wouldn't expect the japanese not to hope for that