Gucci in Japan

I'm usually not into Gucci but I couldn't help but notice the advertisement above appearing in black and white in the August 18, 2016 edition (p. 10) of the International New York Times entitled (in hard to read yellow font) [street sounds]. The above image comes from bagaholicboy.com and their article about the Fall-Winter 2016 Gucci Ad Campaign. From the article:

For the Fall-Winter 2016 ad campaign which just hit the interwebs today, we have Glen Luchford lensing his 4th consecutive campaign (or is it the 5th one?) for Gucci, shot on various locations in Tokyo from a pachinko parlour to a park and even the interior of a traditional Japanese house, complete with tatami mats. There are crowded streets, there are soap bubbles, there’s even a bowl of goldfish, with each campaign image subtitled with words like ‘street sounds’, ‘pop’ and ‘relentless buzzing sound’.

You don’t have to try to break it down and try to psychoanalyse it intently for its alternative meaning; you just have to sit back and enjoy [Gucci’s Creative Director Alessandro] Michele’s world. And figure out what you’ll be buying from the collection too, of course.

You can see more of the campaign's photos at the above quoted post or at Fashionista.com.

What struck me is that the photos look like they are taken in Japan but in a very hip way without the usual stereotypes. The focus on sounds with the titles almost looking like closed captions for the Deaf is interesting as well. I knew that Gucci did big business in Japan (45% of the brands $4.3 billion sales last year) but not about the over 50 years that the company has in Japan.

More on that history here: http://www.gucci.com/cn-en/worldofgucci/articles%2Fjapan-50-anniversary#1

This post is not in any way intended to be a product endorsement (I'm an anthropologist after all and can't afford Gucci...) but rather a good example of artistic photographs with interesting concepts being used for business and profit. All artists need their patrons...

***

Actually I was working on this post a few weeks ago and kinda forgot about it. I was reminded of it today by seeing another Gucci ad in today's International New York Times (September 10, 2016, p. 14) that contained the photo below.

The model is sitting in the tokonoma, an alcove in a traditional Japanese house that usually displays a scroll, flower arrangements or other art. It is extremely bad manners to sit or stand in the tokonoma. And he's wearing shoes on the tatami! Doing further research I found the image online at Fashionista.com along with a video ad with more questionable behavior by foreign models in Japan.



So while the ad campaign might not rely too much on tired stereotypes of Japan, the behavior of the fun-loving, poor mannered foreigners should not be emulated. Don't blow bubbles in a pachinko parlor...

Related fashion post about Guess ads in Japan: http://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.jp/2014/11/new-guess-fashion-campaign-features.html

Another reminder of when it gets on the internet, it's out of your hands... "On Instagram and Other Social Media, Redefining ‘User Engagement’"

See the whole article at The New York Times, 9/20/15.
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/business/media/retailers-use-of-their-fans-photos-draws-scrutiny.html?_r=0

Selected quotes:

Shereen Way did not think twice about posting a photo on Instagram of her 4-year-old daughter wearing a green dress and pink Crocs sandals.

Crocs, which Ms. Way had identified with a hashtag, pulled the snapshot from Instagram and featured it in a gallery of user-generated photographs on its website. The company had not asked Ms. Way for permission, and she was not aware that Crocs had used the photo until a reporter contacted her on Instagram.

“No one reached out to me,” Ms. Way, 37, of Pearl River, N.Y., said in a phone interview. “I feel a little weirded out.”

Much later, Crocs sought her permission.

...

But as the practice of promoting user-generated content has intensified, the intersection between brands trying to capitalize on social media activity and people’s expectations of some privacy (even as they post personal photos on public platforms like Instagram) has grown far more murky.

...

Clothing and retail brands say that featuring user-generated photos on their websites and in their Instagram feeds is an effective way to connect with consumers, who are increasingly skipping commercials, blocking online ads and generally ignoring anything that resembles traditional advertising. Taking photos from social media accounts is also often cheaper and faster than creating a traditional marketing campaign.

...

A spokeswoman for Olapic said in an email that brands do not always need to ask for permission to use a photo on their websites because users can give implied consent by tagging a company in their posts.

Privacy experts point to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or Coppa, which requires operators of websites and apps aimed at children to get “verifiable parental consent” before collecting information from children under the age of 13. The F.T.C., which enforces the rules, declined to comment.

“When a company obtains information about a child under the age of 13, however it’s obtained, Coppa kicks in,” said Marc Rotenberg, president of the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center. “Then the question is, ‘Did the parent consent to the use of the information by the company?’ ”

Adults also have rights to their photos. The person featured in a photo may own the publicity rights, which may give the individual control over the commercial use of his or her likeness, legal experts say. Broadly speaking, whoever takes a photo holds the copyright.

"Wells Fargo Commercial: Learning Sign Language" and once again I'm not sure how to feel about this...

There's so much going on in this commercial I can't seem to get my head around it. The buzz seems to be centered on the portrayal of lesbian moms as ordinary and not so much about the use of sign language.

"An Entire Town Secretly Learned Sign Language To Surprise Their Deaf Neighbor" // I'm not sure how to feel about this...

A former student (Thanks, Emily!) sent me a link to a BuzzFeed photo story about an ad campaign for a video call center for deaf people in Turkey. They set up a deaf man to encounter various people who would greet him in sign language. At the end he finds out it is all for the purpose of an advertisement. Watch the video and read the text from BuzzFeed below.

Muaharrem is a young deaf man from Istanbul, and his sister, Ozlem, teamed up with a production crew recently to give him one hell of an amazing day.

The Leo Burnett ad firm and Samsung organized the huge stunt for an ad campaign. They spent a month setting up cameras around his neighborhood…

…and teaching his neighbors sign language.

In the ad, Ozlem takes Muaharrem out and about on what he thinks is a normal day. That is, until the guy behind the counter of a local shop greets him with sign language.

Then he goes outside and ANOTHER guy signs at him.

By this point he’s starting to get a little weirded out.

He bumps into a woman who signs an apology at him.

Muaharrem and Ozlem get in a cab. The driver signs "hello."

This is the face of a very, very confused man.

The cab then drops them off in a public square where Muaharrem's neighbors greet him.

And the production crew reveals the whole thing was part of an advertisement for Samsung Turkey's new video call center for the hearing impaired.

And he, obviously, loses it, because advertisement or not, it is one of the sweetest things ever.

A Samsung spokesperson confirmed to BuzzFeed that everything you see in the ad is genuine. Hooray!

Link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/an-entire-town-secretly-learned-sign-language-to-surprise-th#.cwL42mzEv

I'm not sure how to feel about this ad campaign. It is good that it will expose sign language to people not familiar with it (but how much does an audience with no experience with sign language learn from the commercial?) and it's good that there is a new video relay service for deaf people in Turkey. Hopefully the new service will help provide more than one "day without barriers" for Muaharrem and other deaf people. I suppose for the service to survive it must advertise like any other business. Here in Japan there have been several businesses for an exclusive deaf clientele that simply were unable to survive. The deaf benefit from the technology and services that hearing people use. For example, remember this Apple iPhone commercial?



And remember this iPod Shuffle commercial (in ASL)?



So maybe I shouldn't be so sensitive. Advertisements use anything and everything to get people to buy their products. Perhaps using sign language is a small step towards language equality? And at least these ads use real deaf people (or a real interpreter in the iPod CM) and real sign language as opposed to other so-called deaf/sign language productions on Japanese TV.

What do you think?

New Guess Fashion Campaign Features Japan...

Text from FashionCopious.com:

This holiday season, GUESS introduces its new advertising campaign shot in Japan by acclaimed photographer, Chen Man. Set against the breathtaking backdrops of Mount Fuji and the fields of Tokyo, the campaign is a unique pairing of Eastern and Western cultures that juxtaposes traditional Japanese surroundings against GUESS’ contemporary apparel and accessories. Bridging fine art and fashion photography­—a signature of Chen Man—the hyper-saturated color palette and mixing of cultural influences give the images a wondrous, dreamlike and fantastical brilliance.

Directed by Paul Marciano, CEO and Chief Creative Officer for GUESS?, Inc., and shot by two-time collaborator Chen Man, the Holiday 2014 campaign features GUESS Girls Megan Williams and Karmay Ngaia, both young and full of energy yet from vastly different worlds. The campaign depicts a journey of their global friendship, taking the viewer on a voyage across Japan’s most picturesque locations.

The journey begins with the GUESS Girls practicing Japan’s most traditional of martial arts, Kendo. Their powerful poses bring their strength and beauty to the forefront of each image. As the journey unfolds, we follow the GUESS Girls as they enjoy a traditional Japanese tea ceremony set against a dazzling backdrop of rich foliage in vivid red, magenta and pink hues. The models are also seen traveling by rickshaw and posing alongside Japan’s emblematic fish flag. The story concludes in a bed full of cherry blossoms where the GUESS Girls accessorize eye-catching red mini-dresses with traditional paper parasols for an afternoon picnic.

Styled by the renowned fashion editor and stylist Satoshi Hirota, the images showcase stand-out apparel from the GUESS holiday collection. Bold red and black color combinations and head-to-toe sleek leather silhouettes offset the shadowy outdoor scenes. As the scenery softens, so too does the clothing. Pastel-colored garments, classic denim jackets, and chambray button downs complement the vibrant colors of the landscape.

Source: http://fashioncopious.typepad.com/fashioncopious/2014/10/guess-holiday-2014-campaign-by-chen-man.html

See the campaign (and photos) at the Guess webpage: http://www.guess.co.jp/

More selected commentary from Japan Today, 11/21/14:

From Tokyo to Mount Fuji, the series features Japan’s wild and peaceful landscapes, while paying homage to the country’s traditional roots and modern lifestyle at the same time. The result is two models who come off looking both elegant and bad-ass.

One thought-provoking image stands out for its allusion to gender stereotypes and femininity. When a girl puts down a pole flying pink koinobori carp, traditionally used as a symbol of strength for the Boys’ Day national holiday (now known as Childrens’ Day), you know she’s heralding a new dawn for gender stereotypes.

Another photo featuring dramatic red and black looks, styled by Satoshi Hirata, pays homage to Japan’s long rickshaw tradition, which is still going strong today. The black, shiny rickshaws can be seen at tourist spots with passengers draped in bright red blankets to shield themselves from the cold.

Then there is a hanami picnic under the cherry blossoms. The model’s adoring gaze up into the cherry blossom tree makes the viewer feel like a pretty little bird.

Source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/arts-culture/view/new-ad-campaign-features-japan-in-all-its-stunning-glory

Japan has never looked cooler. File this one under advertisements that illustrate/represent cultural fads (and fantasies) on a global level...

Just say no... in Japan.

Image borrowed from Japan Today, 3/15/14. Caption reads: What do you think of this ad by the Osaka Pharmaceutical Associations warning people to be aware of the danger of marijuana. It features Monster Engine, a comedy duo from Osaka, and says Dame Zettai or Absolutely No.

The bottom text includes the kanji characters for cannabis (大麻 or taima) and marijuana written in katakana (マリファナ or marifana). The text on the right side of the image can be translated as "the wrath of the gods." Monster Engine seems to have skits where they portray the play of the gods. Here is a YouTube clip to get an idea of who these guys are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJODLiCIvS8

I'm not sure whoever made this poster was thinking. Japan and the Osaka Pharmaceutical Associations need to reassess their ideas about marijuana, especially when countries, states and communities have lax laws or even support medical and/or recreational uses of it. An acquaintance of mine recently went to consult his English speaking Japanese doctor about stress related illnesses both mental and physical. The doctor prescribed handfuls of pills without explaining possible side effects. My acquaintance did some simple research on the internet and found many negative side effects of the stress relieving prescriptions, including addiction, depression and sexual dysfunction that would not go away for two years after the use of the drugs. At their next meeting my acquaintance asked the doctor about medical marijuana in Japan. The doctor just laughed... "Oh! Not in Japan!"

I recently had a cold and went to the doctor and requested a prescription for a strong cough syrup. He seemed confused. Both my Japanese interpreter and I extensively explained what I wanted and he seemed to understand. When I took the prescription to the drug store I was handed four different sets of pills and no cough syrup. The doctor didn't seem to understand in the end, or perhaps he thought he knew best and simply prescribed drugs made by company members of the Osaka Pharmaceutical Associations.

It would be nice if individuals had the opportunity, choice and respect to collaborate in their own health... And not be subject to such blatantly biased (and misinformed) propaganda. (Sorry for the rant. Being sick sucks no matter where you are...)

Source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/view/crock-pot

HIV/AIDS Increasing in Osaka

It's been a while since there has been an AIDS related post here at VAOJ - but that is not to say the situation has improved by any means. You might recall that the HIV/AIDS rate continues to increase in Japan. I was surprised to see this advertisement on a Keihan train recently. I only saw one of these posters among numerous other ads on the train and I haven't seen it since. It says that HIV/AIDS in increasing in Osaka with over 2,300 reported cases. Osaka has the second highest rate in Japan. The advertisement encourages testing and treatment.

The advertisement is sponsored by a group called 「おおさかエイズ情報Now」(Osaka AIDS Information Now). Their website (in Japanese only) has general information about AIDS including prevention, testing and counseling.

おおさかエイズ情報Now: http://www.osaka-aids-now.info/

Following some of their links brings you to a site for the Japan HIV Center that has information in English as well.

Japan HIV Center: http://www.npo-jhc.com/index.htm

These seem to be good resources, at least for Japanese and English speakers. Has anybody else seen these advertisements? Or any other advertisements/information on HIV/AIDS in Japan? If so, please leave a comment. This is one issue that should not be ignored or forgot.

Is Japan Cool? Representations of Japan from ANA's Cool Campaign!

All Nippon Airlines has a new ad campaign drawing upon the "coolness" of Japanese culture. Here are some screen shots borrowed from their web site. There is a contest involved for free air tickets to Japan. Please note the usual disclaimer here about VAOJ not endorsing any product - what is of interest is the cultural representation in the promotional video and the items selected as representative of (possibly) cool Japan.

In some of my anthropology courses we do a free listing exercise for Japanese culture. In this exercise we consider culture to be composed of sets of items: material objects, architecture, landmarks, food/drink, people, thoughts, beliefs, behavior, etc. The following items are those that can be voted on as either being cool or not in the ANA campaign and might serve as a similar list of the sets that makes up Japanese culture.

Itsukushima Shrine, Electrical Goods Store, Manga Cafe, Karaoke, Iced Coffee, Jinrikisha, High-Tech Toilet, Mt. Fuji, Kaminari-Mon, Decorative Anything, Capsule Hotel, Japanese Hospitality, Harajuku Girl, Sake, Sushi-Go-Round, Chopsticks, Public Bathhouse, Paper Fortune, Japanese Pub, Hot Spring Spa, Maid Cafe, Food Model, Character Bento, Idol, Sumo Wrestler, Tokyo Sky Tree, Ramen, Shrine Visit, Massage Chair, Gyoden, Ultramodern Vending Machine, Soba, Scramble Crossing

As of today, all of these things have overwhelming been voted as cool. You can follow the ranking as the days go by. The idea of cool Japan, especially along the lines of its soft power and pop culture, is certainly not anything new and you can find many web sites, campaigns, research projects and TV shows using this idea. The Japanese government has even been using this idea (link).

How do you feel about the ANA set of items as representative of Japanese culture? What would you add? (The list is certainly Tokyo-heavy and in need of some Kansai additions...) And how do you feel about the video? Is the campaign itself cool?

Link to ANA Cool Japan! Campaign web site: https://www.ana-cooljapan.com/#/campaign

関西外大 by AERA

 Photo borrowed from Kansai Gaidai University webpage.

A special publication about my university has been published by AERA in their Japanese University series - Kansai Gaidai is the first university to be featured in the Kansai area. In a way it is an advertisement for the university and its various programs. But there is a lot of really nice photography included as well. There are features and photos of the campus, students, students studying abroad, alumni, faculty etc. Perhaps the most interesting section is a photo spread featuring international students from last semester (p. 91-102) by photographer Asisa Kasai. I am of course biased because many of my students were featured. Kasai did a wonderful job of capturing their personalities in her portraits. Kasai studied in San Francisco and worked under Eiichiro Sakata. She recently began working freelance. I think she is going to have a great career.

Check out her homepage: http://arisakasai.com/

Link to announcement at Kansai Gaidai webpage:
http://www.kansaigaidai.ac.jp/contents/news/detail/707.html

You can purchase this edition of AERA at Amazon.com as well as other places.

July meeting of the Kyoto Asian Studies Group: "Mediating Women's Lives in Early Twentieth-Century Japan: Visual Advertising in Department-Store and Women's Magazines"

Announcement from H-ASIA:

The speaker for the June meeting of the Kyoto Asian Studies Group is Julia  Sapin, who will present "Mediating Women's Lives in Early Twentieth-Century Japan: Visual Advertising in Department-Store and Women's Magazines."

The lecture will be held on Tuesday, July 12th from 6:30-8:30 in Room 213  of the Fusokan on the Doshisha University Campus (see link below for access information).

Abstract

Women became a target for advertisers in early twentieth-century Japan and  thus a primary market for social trends that were mirrored in these commercial ventures. The kimono shops that would become Japan's first department stores were among advertising's biggest users, producing posters, flyers, postcards, and publicity magazines that employed bold and novel visual elements for their power of persuasion. Department-store magazines have been a little-studied aspect of the department-store advertising machine and their similarities to women's magazines have also been overlooked. The first women's magazines predated department store magazines, but the most prominent and representative examples of the former, such as Fujin koron (1916) and Shufu no tomo (1917), did not develop until after the big department stores had launched their publicity magazines. This paper compares these two media, considering their textual content, but focusing primarily on how they incorporated visual forms to achieve their primary objectives. While on the surface it would seem that these two media had very different aims, they were actually rather similar in terms of their visual framing of possibilities for women's lives, offering alternatives to the government-prescribed notion of womanhood.

Julia Sapin is Associate Professor of Art History at the Department of Art at Western Washington University.

Sponsored by the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies.

For access information see:
http://www.doshisha.ac.jp/english/access/ima_campus.html

German AIDS Public Awareness Campaign

We discussed the HIV/AIDS situation in Japan in the Contemporary Issues/Globalization seminar last week. I was interested in hearing about the German situation, especially after seeing a public service poster at the bus stop near campus. Alas it was changed before I had the chance to photograph it (lesson to visual anthropologists: never put off taking that photo!). My graduate student, Anna, from the seminar was kind enough to do some research, offer comments and translations and forward visual images.

The organization that does the public service is called "Gib AIDS keine Chance" (Don't give AIDS a chance). Their main motto is "mach's mit" (Do it with it). There current series of posters is called "Liebesorte" (Love places). According to Anna, "And so the point is that one has the choice of either having sex and a good time or having sex and to risk AIDS. And of course the condom is always placed on the former."

Each poster photo is accompanied by a title. "The phrases are a little hard to translate because they're colloquial German, but all of them have some sort of sexual connotation in it somehow."

Hanging out

Living out Fantasies

Not getting to know AIDS

Rock and Rollen

Socialize - Making new contacts

Summer night dreaming

Taking a bite

Link to Mach's Mit (in German):
http://www.machsmit.de/

According to one article, HIV/AIDS rates in Germany increased by 20% in 2005.

According to a report from the Robert Koch Institute, the federal government's disease control center, 1,164 Germans were infected in the first half of 2005 with the virus. Almost 60 percent of new infections were among homosexual men. Some 45,000 of the 40 million people living with HIV around the world are German.

Christopher Knoll, a psychologist at Munich's AIDS-Hilfe, an HIV/AIDS support center, said more gay men are being infected because they no longer consider the disease a serious threat.

Link to "Less Fear of HIV is Pushing up Infection Rates Among Gay Men"
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1797615,00.html

According to Avert.com, rates of HIV/AIDS in western Europe have dropped slightly (as opposed to eastern Europe where rates continue to rise).

Link to European HIV and AIDS Statistics:
http://www.avert.org/hiv-aids-europe.htm

A more recent article claims that rates are still increasing and discusses various ad campaigns.

A new campaign to raise awareness about HIV infection uses shock tactics to get its message across. The foundation behind it says the pictures are meant to provoke in order to bring the issue of HIV back into focus.

Link to "New German HIV/AIDS Campaign Pushes the Envelope"
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,2426087,00.html

See also "Germany: Hitler AIDS Ad Stirs Controversy"
http://www.thebody.com/content/world/art53666.html

So it seems once again that Japan is not so culturally "unique" in terms of the increasing rates of HIV/AIDS. Germany has to be credited with so many public service announcements. My seminar students all seem dumbfounded by the lack of discourse about sexual education and HIV/AIDS in Japan. But globalization teaches us that so-called national boundaries are meaningless when it comes to illness and disease. HIV/AIDS ignore customs and immigration inspections. This is a global issue that needs a global response. Think/act globally; think/act locally.

Thanks once again, Anna, for sharing this information. And thanks to all of my students for their interest and discussion.

Walking Advertisement?

T-shirts with company logos and famous brand clothes with their conspicuously located labels/tags have long served as walking advertisements, substitutes for the old fashioned walking sign board. But what is being advertised in this photo? Is this student standing on the bus serving as a willing walking ad for the Golden Arches?

McDonald's in Japan has had some interesting connections with fashion, as can be seen from their commercials.



McDonald's also has connections with pop culture as well. Here's Ronald McDonald doing para para...



Here he is doing a more modern song and dance...



Does this really make anybody feel hungry?

McDonald's is certainly associated with youth culture in Japan.

If McDonald's really has anything to do with the jeans the student on the bus is wearing, I wonder how they control the message. Do they limit the size of the jeans? Would super-size jeans sprouting the Golden Arches really serve as a good advertisement?

McDonald's also serves as an interesting example of globalization. Is McDonald's really American anymore? What is Ronald McDonald doing dancing para para and eating teriyaki burgers and moon viewing burgers? For more on this globalization aspect, check out a post on the subject by one of my students (link). Do American students wear the Golden Arches on their backsides? If so, what message is being sent?