Sexual Entertainment in Ads

Ryuji Gibo, OCU

In Japan today, there are many advertisements that feature women exposing more and more skin so as to attract more and more viewers. What the ads’ creators are trying to do is to make viewers feel as though they trying their particular products in some vicarious way. Exposing skin is not illegal. However, some of these sexualized ads have been discussed as examples of gender discrimination. There seems to be three main reasons why some people are critical of these sorts of ads.

Source: deviantart.com

Firstly, showing skin is a woman’s job, so to speak. It should really be a matter of her preference. In advertising, women are usually directed to show more of their skin as a way of persuading people to consume more of a particular product. An example of this is “Hooters” in the U.S. Even though they are selling just fast food, the Hooters women staff are made to wear sexy costumes and to talk closely to the customers in order to “hear” their orders more carefully. This sort of invasion of a customer's personal space poses the waitresses as if they are girlfriends, or intimate partners with the customers. This communication approach satisfies the customers to some degree by making them feel as though they have some power beyond their role as patrons. Hooters is not only selling food, but it is selling the image of beautiful women. This business model amounts to sexual discrimination, because it forces women to take unnatural roles as servants. They wait upon patrons but also act in ways that fulfill male fantasies.

Second of all, women’s position in some ads implies a gender hierarchy. As we have seen in the advertising industry, many ads illustrate how a gender hierarchy in society remains in place. The supportive evidence can be seen in the women’s physical position in various ads. Many ads cast women positioned below men in the images, and the women are looking up toward the men who are over them in dominant positions. These positions suggest to viewers the importance of the social hierarchy between men and women. The ads indirectly suggest that women should respect men in society. And more indirectly, the position also implies that women are in the control of men.

Finally, there is a problem in the way men treat women in ads. We can realize that men dominate women through looking at men and women’s actions in ads. Some women in ads do not look like they hold equal power, while they are merely men’s satisfying object. One of the ads we analyzed had a man wearing a nice blue suit and tie with a girl wearing bathing wear on the seashore. The guy is not supposed to be dressed like that in this situation. While the man shows his wealth and power, the woman apparently does not have money power as she lies below him. She looks more like a doll that has no emotion. The guy looks a though he can afford to play with the girl.

Thus, as we focus on the many advertisements playing around us, we may notice gender bias at work. Although these messages may be vaguely sexual, and may not have intended by their creators to taken as such, they are still upsetting to people. The images tell a story that is often not spoken, a tale of gender hierarchy that still exists in today’s society. To create a better story, we should stop casting women in these bad positions and erase the bad tradition. I think everyone would agree that our moms would be proud of us.

Media and Fiction: What are We Being Sold?

Mariko Hirata, OCU 

In Japanese society today, partially imposed roles and biases toward sex have changed over the years, but not all have. Many people still hold onto ideas about how ideal women or men should be and what they should look like. Most forms of mass media reinforce these ideals in images and sounds through advertisements in text and television.

Source: pininterest.com

Advertisers never fail to show us the ideal men, women, girls and boys as well as the roles they assume as husbands, wives, sons, and daughters. People tend to believe that these models who smile on screen are the best representations and real, and so as consumers we try to achieve for ourselves these created images. This is one major reason why young healthy girls undergo cosmetic surgery so as to achieve a more sexy body, which, it turns out, they actually don’t need. It is as if media are brainwashing us.

In fashion magazines, we can see tall thin models, and we sometimes aspire to be like them. There is a famous quotation by supermodel Kate Moss that say, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” So, many women still try to lose their weight by suppressing their appetites and excessively dieting. Interestingly, top fashion models are also becoming thinner and thinner.

Conversely, through media, we can see that men are required to be tough, strong, cool, and macho. In some movies, we might see a father teach his son how to play sports or how to fight with someone. If the son fails or performs poorly, he might be called a “wimp.”

These are planted gender biases, which media continue to still reinforce. One way to support the bias is through digital imaging. After the filming or photographing is finished, editors can modify body lines by making them thinner or thicker, and removing scars and wrinkles by using Photoshop. This means that the ideal model in a magazine doesn't really exist; the “ideal” is really just a creation of some editors’ imagination. Nonetheless, many people tend to think that women should conform to these imagined ideals.

From the 1940s to today, media have also reinforced the roles of women in the home. Most of the household cleaning and kitchen work seen in advertisements during these times (and till today) has featured women. The message is that housework is the primary job of the wife, or mother. The products pitched in the advertisements are appealing to women because they are apparently easy to use. And, most people tend to agree with the idea that ease of work is good and that women are the ones who should do it.

Many parents seem to help maintain the current state as well. For example, mothers often remind their daughters to practice their skills in cooking, cleaning, and doing the laundry. Elderly people, especially, think this way and keep females in leading strings in preparation for marriage. One of my friends wanted to go on to university after high school, but her grandmother expressed a vehement opposition toward her going on to high learning. She said, “You are a woman and what you have to do is household tasks only. You don’t need to get higher education.”

Source: rachellegardner.com

The grandmother still holds onto this unshakable belief that the home and all of the work it requires is to be a major part of the woman’s role in life. If we look at the present economy, though, it is obvious that this grandmother’s ideas are out-dated. I believe that it’s difficult (if not impossible) for women to do every household task in this present economy, especially when she must also work outside the home.

Because of the social advancement of women, they can (and sometimes must) work in the same ways as men do, so the division of household labor has become a normal thing for us today. People should shift their consciousness about these gender roles and biases and see advertising for what it is: a fiction.

Noodles, Females and Objectification

Masayuki Chinen, OCU

Nisshin Food Products television commercials have attracted the attention of many people, especially men, in its use of sexuality as a method of stimulating a sense of hunger in viewers. One ad in particular expresses man’s sexual desire toward women. It also reflects the general desire of women to maintain a beautiful appearance and slender body.

Nisshin is a well-known food company, especially for its Cup Noodle brand. In 2010, Nisshin marketed a new line known as Cup Noodle Light. Viewers may notice immediately what is special about this product from its name. Obviously, this product is supposed to contain less calories than other similar products while it also contains dietary fiber.

Nisshin Food Products, 2012

When I heard the name of this product, I thought the company was mainly targeting female customers. However, the commercial presents also another perspective from what I had first imagined. The advertisement features a beautiful woman who appears essentially naked. She framed by the camera from the low waistline up, and her exposed skin is painted in the pattern of Cup Noodle Light. Her slender appearance and beauty illustrate the power of the visual and what could possibly be in store for customers who eat this product. So, the TV advertisement strives to elicit the general female desire to be slender and to be beautiful.

The message, though, is meant not only for women but for men with its portrayal of the woman. It is appealing to male customers because it presents the woman in an almost erotic pose half naked, exposed and welcoming, which motivate the male sexual drive. When male customers choose this brand of noodle, the images presented in the advertisement serve to appeal to the emotions connections that men feel toward women. These connections are also linked to the product, Cup Noodle Light.

While recent women’s equal rights movements challenging the unfair treatment and discrimination of women have had some success in Japanese society, we still need to go further in improving equality and respecting the dignity of women. Unfortunately, male chauvinism still appears to exist in societies across the globe where women are objectified in the interest of marketing products.

In Japan, the woman who is generally slender and who has wider eyes than the norm has come to be more visually appealing, more valuable, and more marketable to manufacturers. It seems every condition of feminine beauty is manufactured today by a man’s sense of value. Many women strive to be more slender by dieting and sometimes the result is excess dieting, which leads to very serious emotional and psychological problems. These unrealistic concepts about feminine beauty appear to be a leading cause of anorexia.

Nisshin Cup Noodle also emphasizes the calorie and dietary fiber, which is related directly the slender body image. If such extreme emphasis continues to be placed on sexual fantasy in advertising, we really need to step back from the media presented on TV and ask about the real value of this fantasy and its effects on women.

Mr. Magic Mushroom

Maki Sunagawa, OCU

When you think of mushrooms, especially the average garden variety, you may not immediately visualize sex. A Japanese TV commercial produced by the advertisers of a mushroom company, Hokuto, went completely beyond our imagination. To many ordinary women, like me, the ad is rather degrading.

Hokuto ad, 2013

The characters featured in this short commercial are a middle-aged housewife performed by Sawa Suzuki and a handsome spirit of mushrooms with mushroom earrings performed by Jun Kaname. This kind of ad has been reproduced a number of times in various ways by the same agency, and all of the TV spots feature characters such as housewives in what males tend to think are typical female settings such as the kitchen, the living room couch, in front of the door at some average apartment, or some random aisle in a vast supermarket.

In this ad, every time she is alone, the spirit of the mushroom suddenly appears out of nowhere and whispers right behind her. The mushroom lecture he gives is called “Kin-katsu,” which can be translated as “fungi activity.” He presses his mushroom-decorated body against hers and asks which variety she prefers – “a regular mushroom” or “a majestic mushroom.” At the end of each advertisement, the erotic apparition that the supposed desperate housewife envisaged in the middle of the day turned out to be merely a daydream.

Beyond the barnyard aspect of sensuality the ad promotes, the ad also does a splendid job in expressing the erotic images that men seem to harbor toward the humble mushroom. Maybe it is good that children are not able to grasp the sexual innuendo that is clearly implied. The lasting image left in the minds of the audience that sees the ad is clear, if not clever, despite the indirect underlying message.

The reason why the ad merits discussion is its offensiveness. I found it demeaning and I presume most women will also conclude the same, as the ad portrays another stereotype. The housewife and the handsome young man suggest to viewers that all Japanese middle-aged women are bored stiff doing daily chores at home and are yet sexually frustrated, a feeling that could be treated by a man with a majestic mushroom.

This is not the only commercial regarding sex we can witness recently. Commercials that feature men and women assuming stereotypical gender roles where males earn the money and the women do the housework have appeared in various media in many countries. Recent ads appear to turn to sexuality increasingly more often into spectacle. The subtle level of sexual implication in ads may have been part of a long global tradition; however, the methods that marketers are now using are becoming more and more indecent. Therefore, I think it is necessary to point out that some of these ads are inappropriate, even for adults who claim to honor all people as equals.

The Necessity of National Scholastic Tests

Matsuda, Natsuki, OCJC

In Japan nowadays, various topics on education are being debated in the government quite regularly. Adding English education to the elementary curriculum is one topic that may still be fresh in our minds. There are so many competing arguments about education. One topic that I would like to introduce is the National Scholastic Test. This test takes place every year in every school throughout Japan. It is meant to measure students’ ability in their core academic skills, to measure schools’ environment, and the kinds of skills teacher bring to classroom teaching. In Japanese we call this test, 全国学力テスト.

The national government and the schools are now debating whether the National Scholastic Test should take place or not. The government points out that the National Scholastic Test helps students and schools to raise their academic skills by competing against other schools. Schools argue, however, that the results from the National Scholastic Test do not necessarily show the real academic level of schools. Because of this, schools argue that the test is unnecessary and should come to an end. I believe that National Scholastic Test is necessary in understanding academic levels in Japan.

By taking this test, students will be more motivated to receive a clear result of their growing knowledge each year. From this result, students can also create a new goal in their school life. At last, the test will also benefit teachers and the school itself by seeing what kind of work and environment the school had provided or isn’t providing.

To support this evidence, I also have a personal story. During my student life, I had to take a test called SAT, short for Stanford Achievement Test, which had the same purpose as the National Scholastic Test. Throughout elementary to middle school, my average grade was 60~70%. I was an average student or even below average some years. However, during my freshmen year in high school, my teacher called me in during lunchtime. In her hand, she held my SAT score and said, “Take a look at this.” To be honest, I thought I was in big trouble for something I didn’t remember. However, my teacher was smiling and said, “Do you understand it’s very rare to have students jump up 20%?” My SAT score showed that my average rose from 70% to 92%.

From this experience, I became even more motivated to study. This clear result that I was given each year showed me how much effort I had put into learning, or even how much I had slacked off. Teachers enjoyed the same effect too. When I had a great teacher for a subject that I wasn’t strong in, my SAT scores rose; however, even in my strong subjects, there were times when my scores dropped when I disliked a particular teacher. Overall, the SAT became my goal to show how much studying I did in a year.

From these experiences and results, one could argue that the National Scholastic Test will produce the same sort of results for students. The test is necessary because it motivates students who want to see clear results. It will create a new goal, and will show each school’s academic levels. Just like it has changed my perspective on studying, other students can change theirs also. By keeping the test, Japan can see a positive change in public education.