Bad Japan - TV Advertisements
One thing which became evidently clear when I originally moved to Japan was the sheer difference in advertising methods compared to my home country, Australia. Adverts back home are all re-hashed versions of themselves; they all scream “Bargain!” and thankfully we’ve learned to ignore most of them. The only advertising trick which seems to work is to show the same ad twice in a row. That always caught my attention…sneaky mongrels.
Now Japan. Sigh…Japan has obviously done their marketing research and have taken TV advertisement to the extreme. Forget bargains (they don’t exist in this country anyway) & forget some crazy carpet emporium salesman screaming down your neck. Think catchy. Think extremely catch & extremely annoying!
The average Japanese has a lot on their plate so to speak; long hours, low pay & the attention span of a deaf goldfish. Keeping their goldfish food handy, Japanese television stations have cooked up some nasty ways to keep people glued during the ad-break to the point where you find yourself actually paying attention to these damn ads.
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Here’s a quick run-down on some of these advertisement methods:
Half way through the ad break, a short teaser of what`s to come on the TV show you are currently watching will show, making you think the ads are over…fooled! Fooled again for the 7,322nd time.
Almost every TV advertisement (No, really!) finishes with a computer mouse click with the company’s name typed into an internet search engine, displayed in katakana (a Japanese writing style used when writing foreign words). This method accomplishes two things; it draws final attention to the ad & allows you to visually see how to search for the company using katakana. You have to understand that the internet URLs were made for English and not Japanese, so as annoying as this method is, it’s extremely effective to a Japanese audience let me assure you.
Catchy telephone numbers. Every number…every single telephone number is sung and I can’t recall otherwise. Quite often the company name is also sung and there’s nothing more annoying than walking around all day reciting the name of some company.
English songs! English songs! English songs! If I received one yen for every time I heard an English song during the commercials I’d be rolling in cash. English is cool in Japan - its a social status & most Japanese listen to foreign music. If you come to Japan to get away from trash music like Destiny’s Child & Britney Spears, go refund your airline ticket.
The last one I will mention makes my gut churn every time I see it. Balding. Many men, regardless of the country are losing their hair. Some company here in Japan has created some kind of artificial hair that you (simply?) glue onto your head and presto! You’re not bald anymore. The sickening thing is that these advertisements always have a young, Japanese chick (maybe even a teenager) with a huge chunk of hair glued to either their arm or forehead. They smile. They give the hair a few tugs to let you know just how strong their product attaches itself to you and then, well…you throw up.
If you have a child, you know just how much children absorb from TV advertisements - toys, games, food; there’s just no end to it. Do them and yourself a favour and never bring them to Japan because children advertising campaigns are ridiculously over the top as you have probably already guessed by now.
No one can escape the constant bombardment of advertisements here in Japan & it’s probably why 100% of the entire population wear glasses or contact lenses. Okay, maybe it’s not 100% but to tell the truth, in over two years living in Japan I have not met anyone who doesn’t wear one or the other.
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Filed Under: Bad Japan • Japanese TV
Edward Young | May 26, 2010 | Reply
i love to eat and drink exotic foods and delicacies from all over the world.:~,