Hyunbin : Advertisement King

His face and name are plastered everywhere: newspapers, television, radio, the internet. Though many may already be sick of hearing the two syllable word, here's another bit of news just proving this young actor's popularity. Hyunbin is rising the ranks to establish himself as the "CF King" -- CF being what Koreans call commercials.

After the drama "Secret Garden", Hyunbin has scored at least another six endorsement contracts. One of these contracts include being the model for Duty-Free which ensures that he'll get coverage not only in Korea, but in other Asian countries as well.

Other companies that are trying to bank on the "Hyunbin Syndrome" include clothing ware, beverages, and home appliances. In fact, one clothing brand only worked with international models up until recently, when they signed Hyunbin as their new face.

One men's cosmetics brand quickly created a new commercial when they saw the popularity of "Secret Garden" and its character of Kim Joo-won. The commercial features a man with an icy exterior with the caption stating "A rude and arrogant man. Secret Garden's Kim Joo-won".

If you combine his new additional contracts with existing ones, and the re-signing of old ones, the young star is estimated to have earned about 4 billion won in advertisement alone! This is quite notable because Hyunbin faces his looming military service. However, rather than having a detrimental effect on his career, his mandatory hiatus is serving as a positive factor. This is because he has decided to enlist in the most challenging sector of the Korean military: the marine corp. This has improved his image as a star with a sense of duty and responsibility. Thus companies are that much more hungry to lock in Hyunbin as the face for their products.
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