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Japanese airline sorry over racist commercial, after receiving complaints

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-21/an-japanese-airline-sorry-over-27racist27-commercial/5209884
Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways says it is modifying a TV commercial after apologising to customers who complained it used racist stereotyping.

But the airline insists it meant no offence.

ANA started airing the new 30-second television advertisement on Saturday, aimed at promoting its beefed up schedule of international flights from Tokyo's Haneda airport in March.

In the commercial, two Japanese men in ANA uniform discuss in English how they might boost the image of the airline as an international carrier.

One of them says: "Let's change the image of Japanese people."

"Sure," replies the other, who is now wearing a blonde wig and an improbably long rubber nose.

White westerners are often believed in Japan to have big noses, blue eyes and blonde hair, characteristics generally thought desirable among Japanese.

The ad caused a stir among English-language users of social media in Japan.

An ANA spokeswoman acknowledged the carrier "has received calls from customers, mostly foreigners, complaining about the ad."
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Here's the ad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jgzAOCmWA0
 
AAbuUK9l.png
 
Branduil said:
I don't think "big noses" are considered desirable among Japanese people.
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They are but they are called 'tall noses'.

My girlfriend gets annoyed if I "smush" her nose (think eskimo kissing) because she thinks I'm going to make it smaller, which would be awful.

Also, would you guys who don't think it's racist be ok if an American company did the same with blackface or taped-up eyelids?
 
White westerners are often believed in Japan to have big noses, blue eyes and blonde hair, characteristics generally thought desirable among Japanese.
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From a recent McDonald's Japan ad:

gjcjk1c.png
 
I remember watching the K-on movie where they go to London...they all had big noses and light hair! Must be true.
 
I was watching the Thermae Romae movie the other night with my gf who is Japanese. The main character, who is a foreigner, arrives in Japan and calls them "the flat-faced people". I told my gf no foreigner would ever think of Japanese as being flat-faced, and that this was clearly a Japanese-created movie. They notice our prominent western noses but we don't even notice that theirs are less prominent (it's more about the eye difference).
 
Cheesecakebobby said:
They are but they are called 'tall noses'.

My girlfriend gets annoyed if I "smush" her nose (think eskimo kissing) because she thinks I'm going to make it smaller, which would be awful.

Also, would you guys who don't think it's racist be ok if an American company did the same with blackface or taped-up eyelids?
Click to expand...

No, because it's completely different – this isn't mocking a race, it's mocking the fact that so many Japanese marketers use white people in their advertising to make it enticing to Japanese. It would be akin to a commercial where two guys decide the best way to market their airline is to have big titty stewardesses with short skirts.

And yeah, in Japanese the word isn't "big" it's "high" but the meaning is the same. It references protrusion and more = better.
 
BocoDragon said:
I was watching the Thermae Romae movie the other night with my gf who is Japanese. The main character, who is a foreigner, arrives in Japan and calls them "the flat-faced people". I told my gf no foreigner would ever think of Japanese as being flat-faced, and that this was clearly a Japanese-created movie. They notice our prominent western noses but we don't even notice that theirs are less prominent (it's more about the eye difference).
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Lol, my friend is an extra in the sequel. Can't wait to see how culturally sensitive it'll be

OddMorsel said:
No, because it's completely different – this isn't mocking a race, it's mocking the fact that so many Japanese marketers use white people in their advertising to make it enticing to Japanese. It would be akin to a commercial where two guys decide the best way to market their airline is to have big titty stewardesses with short skirts.

And yeah, in Japanese the word isn't "big" it's "high" but the meaning is the same. It references protrusion and more = better.
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All my Japanese friends translate it to 'tall nose' when they say to me 'I'm jealous of your tall nose'.

But please don't tell me what it's mocking, I've lived in Japan for several years (maybe you have too?) and I have to face ignorance on a regular basis. I know that most of it isn't intentional racism - it wasn't intentional here - but I and many others feel uncomfortable about it and if nobody says anything it'll never stop.
 
BocoDragon said:
I was watching the Thermae Romae movie the other night with my gf who is Japanese. The main character, who is a foreigner, arrives in Japan and calls them "the flat-faced people". I told my gf no foreigner would ever think of Japanese as being flat-faced, and that this was clearly a Japanese-created movie. They notice our prominent western noses but we don't even notice that theirs are less prominent (it's more about the eye difference).
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Hah it's very true. The defining characteristics, from a western perspective, are generally black hair, eye shape and generally smaller bodies. I personally have always thought Asians tend to have very pretty skin compared with Caucasians.

Japanese people think the defining physical traits are flat faces, short legs, shallow eyes and big heads, which is why as a white person in Japan the things I get complimented on are my big nose, big eyes, small head and long legs :lol I imagine it's the same for most of us.
 
BocoDragon said:
I was watching the Thermae Romae movie the other night with my gf who is Japanese. The main character, who is a foreigner, arrives in Japan and calls them "the flat-faced people". I told my gf no foreigner would ever think of Japanese as being flat-faced, and that this was clearly a Japanese-created movie. They notice our prominent western noses but we don't even notice that theirs are less prominent (it's more about the eye difference).
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OH COME ON!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn-UqpWlBS0

The guy isn't Japanese but still... lol
 
Cheesecakebobby said:
Lol, my friend is an extra in the sequel. Can't wait to see how culturally sensitive it'll be
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I didn't think the first was insensitive... Mostly because anything Lucious says was about a foreigner's view of Japan, written by Japanese, for a Japanese audience.

Cool that he's in the movie. Japanese or "Roman" extra?
 
DanteFox said:
Well that's not true. Why did you lie to your girlfriend?
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I would have never in a million years talked about nose shape when describing Japamese ethnicity, but maybe that's me.

Especially when Japanese actually have significant noses compared to other Asians.

See, he agrees:

OddMorsel said:
Hah it's very true. The defining characteristics, from a western perspective, are generally black hair, eye shape and generally smaller bodies. I personally have always thought Asians tend to have very pretty skin compared with Caucasians.

Japanese people think the defining physical traits are flat faces, short legs, shallow eyes and big heads, which is why as a white person in Japan the things I get complimented on are my big nose, big eyes, small head and long legs :lol I imagine it's the same for most of us.
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OddMorsel said:
Yes they are.
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I dunno, unless you're talking about being unable to wear some sunglasses. I've heard that my nose is "higher" than a Japanese person's nose plenty of times, I've even heard it about my daughter who is a goddamn baby and has a small baby nose and is half Japanese anyway, but I've never heard anyone say that's a good thing or cool or that they're jealous or anything like that. I've never seen commercials for makeup to make your nose bigger like they do for eyes or heard about nose implant surgery or anything like that. Maybe some people feel that way, but I don't think it's black and white.
 
Toshiba did something like this and landed in some hot water. I still don't get why people get so upset over these commercial.
 
TheBryanJZX90 said:
I dunno, unless you're talking about being unable to wear some sunglasses. I've heard that my nose is "higher" than a Japanese person's nose plenty of times, I've even heard it about my daughter who is a goddamn baby and has a small baby nose and is half Japanese anyway, but I've never heard anyone say that's a good thing or cool or that they're jealous or anything like that. I've never seen commercials for makeup to make your nose bigger like they do for eyes or heard about nose implant surgery or anything like that. Maybe some people feel that way, but I don't think it's black and white.
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I constantly get "oh your nose is so high :3 I'm jealous うらやましいなー" or "o wau ur bf is so kewl his face is cho small and his nose is super high I'm mecha jelly!" "He speaks Japanese." "Yeah I do, thanks though." "Haha o wau lol u can speak Japanese?"

And of course make-up can't make your nose look bigger, but girls (not just Asians, mind) do actively use a darker shade around the sides of their nose to make it look like it's protruding further. Make-up commercials don't show techniques they just advertise products. And nose surgery to get a more western look is one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries in Asia.

Sounds like you live under a rock my friend.
 
I think it's the fact it was going so well up to where they say "lets change the image of Japan", then immediately follow up the same old overused joke of a big nosed, blonde foreigner. I don't really see it as racist, just funny as it's yet another case of them trying their best to become "global" but messing it up in the way Japanese companies often do.

I don't really care about this type of thing, but there are plenty of jaded foreigners that see ads like this and get annoyed by it. Live here for a while and you'll probably get tired of the media/general portrayals of foreigners as "those slightly wacky tall people with big noses who can't speak Japanese/speak funny Japanese!". It's never particularly negative or anything like that (for the most part anyway), it just makes you wonder when Japan will catch up with the rest of the world and get over the us/them mentality.
 
BocoDragon said:
They definitely are among Koreans.
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I'm curious now, does the preference in Korea extend to cosmetic surgery? Is it even possible to do that? A nose implant? As far as Japan, did I just miss something? Like I said, I can think of plenty of beauty treatments in Japan to match other shortcomings the Japanese see in themselves, like secret boots and platform heels to increase height, those masks to make your face "smaller," or fake eyelashes and makeup techniques to make your eyes seem bigger. But I can't recall seeing anything advertised to make your nose look bigger.

OddMorsel said:
I constantly get "oh your nose is so high :3 I'm jealous うらやましいなー" or "o wau ur bf is so kewl his face is cho small and his nose is super high I'm mecha jelly!" "He speaks Japanese." "Yeah I do, thanks though." "Haha o wau lol u can speak Japanese?"
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Well, I guess my nose is just big in an unattractive way :(
 
Ether_Snake said:
It's from Street Fighter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nye0RoUB3U
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Heh.

My Google-fu found that it's from a web-based ad

Type “Racist KFC Commercial” into the search box on YouTube, and eventually you’ll run into this fragment of a KFC ad. Although this particular clip has been stripped of logos, it’s clearly part of a Web-based 2009 KFC ad campaign for the chain’s then-new lineup of grilled menu items. And that guy who appears at the :15 mark is the same guy in the 2204355 clip.

The campaign was titled “Unthink KFC.” Part of it revolved around “the chicken dance,” which KFC apparently hoped would become a phenomenon on the order of the lambada. According to a KFC press release, the campaign encouraged customers to show their excitement over the chain’s grilled chicken by “uploading a video of themselves shaking their chicken dance to the KFC music track provided on the site. Users can then rate and watch their friend’s videos.” The music cue in the 2204355 loop is the same one used in other ads from this KFC campaign.
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Salon

Here's a longer version (with what I'm going to presume is edited music): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFZEf_eX9oQ

As for the video in the OP: I didn't even get it; I thought they were making fun of Jewish people (not white people in general). And I didn't even notice the hair until I read the article.
 
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