Figure 1.-- Here we see Ban Dai, is now a Japanese toy company, using a family scene to market its product. The ad is undated, but looks to be from the 1980s. .The company began as a distributor of metallic toys and rubber swimming rings after World War II. It added metal cars and aircraft models. It adopted the Bandai name (1961). The company achieved its first major success with anime Astro Boy action figures. It began selling video game consoles (1981).

We know nothing about pre-World War II Japanese advertsing. The Japanese economy rapidly expanded as did domestic consunmption. Wages were relatively low, but workers in city earned far more than agricultural workers. We do not yet have, however information on the early-19th century. But with the post-War Japanese Economic Miracle we see the growth of consumerism and with it advertising. The Japanese enthusiastically took up took up Western consumerism and advertising. Japan became a consummer mecca. There were, however, cultural differences. One study suggesrs that, "... Japanese ads were evaluated as more emotional and less comparative than American ads. In contrast to a priori notions, Japanese ads were found to contain at least as many information cues as American ads." [Hong, et. al.] Another assessment reported that "Japanese magazine advertisements were generally more informative than U.S. ads, although the emphasis on specific content varies cross-culturally." [Madden, et. al.] . As expected, recent Japanese advertising has increasingly emphasised status to a much greater degree than recent US advertising, and recent US advertising has continued to emphasise personal efficacy to a much greater degree than does Japanese advertising. Both cultures are found to use materialistic themes in their advertisements. Another group of investiagtors found that ". As expected, recent Japanese advertising has increasingly emphasised status to a much greater degree than recent US advertising, and recent US advertising has continued to emphasise personal efficacy to a much greater degree than does Japanese advertising. Both cultures are found to use materialistic themes in their advertisements." [Belk and Pollay] One notable future in Japanese asvertising was 'cuteness', esprcially when children wee involved. A resercher "tells us, With the influence of American animations and cartoons, the years after the Second World War saw the emergence of new cartoon-style cute emblems such as Fujiya's Peko-chan , but the real proliferation of cuteness in Japan's marketing world started only around the mid-seventies, after Sanrio, pioneer in the marketing of cute-ness, had demonstrated the sheer endless sales-power of cute,through the immense commercial success of its "fancygoods" . Throughout most of the seventies and the ighties, cuteness was the main ormative influence on Japanese youth culture,and almost all commodities became available in a redefined and redesigned cute version. But today, as Sharon Kinsella suggests in her account of the kawaii-boom,the glory days of boundless childishness are over. Fashion has shed some ofits frills and bows, teddybear-shapedback packsareen countered less frequently in the streets of Harajuku, and a more insolent tone has entered youth culture: the cute-yet-streetwise image under which today's pop teen queen Amuro amieis being marketed is light-years away from the saccharine overdose of irnmaturity, infantility and irmocence which were the hallmark of Matsuda Seiko,the reigning queen of ten years ago." [Riessland]

Sources

Belk, R. and Pollay. "Materialism abd status appeals in Japanaese and US print adveriusing, "International Marketing Review, Vol. 2, No. 4 (April 1, 1985), pp. 38-47.

Hong, Jae W. Hong , Aydin Muderrisoglu, and George M. Zinkhan. "Cultural differences anddAdvertising expression: A comparative content analysis of Japanese and U.S. magazine ddvertising," Journal of Advertising Vol. 16, No. (1987).

Madden, Charles S., Marjorie J. Caballero, and Shinya Matsukubo. "Japanese magazine advertising," Journal of Advertising Vol. 15, Issue 3 (1986). pp. 38-45.

Riessland, Andreas. "Sweet spots: The use of cuteness in Japanese advertising," Japanstudien Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 129-54.

Created: 9:54 AM 11/27/2022
Last updated: 9:54 AM 11/27/2022