Author’s Note
Before we begin this essay, I would like to give both a trigger and content warning.
As stated in the title, the ads that are going to be referenced in this piece are offensive and feature fatphobia, before/after photos, emotional abuse and sexual misconduct. Please watch the videos at your own discretion.
Moreover, I have used the word “fat” to describe two of the characters in these ads. I chose to use the word “fat” instead of euphemisms such as “plus-size” or “overweight”, because the issue isn’t the word itself, but the stigma behind it and how the word is used to hurt people.
In short, euphemisms downplay the severity of fatphobia, and how it affects our eating habits, diet culture and self-esteem as a society. Considering the severity of the issue, especially in regards to the YouTube manga ads that we’re about to discuss, I wanted to be as clear as possible with my words.
For more information about how fat people and activists are working to destigmatize the word “fat” on both a personal and larger scale, please read the articles I have linked in the paragraphs above.
Thank you for your time, and I hope this essay serves you well.
Attack of the Ads
I’ve noticed a lot more manga ads than usual this past year on YouTube. Fast-paced with high-pitched narration, they set up a simple problem and present their product as a solution. I usually skipped them, as a lot of the products they sell are irrelevant to me.
But in the early hours of this past Sunday morning–and because it interrupted the crystal singing bowl video I was listening to–an ad caught my eye because it featured a fat woman heading home to her fiancé. I rarely see fat women in Japanese ads, unless they were the comic relief character or the “before” in a weight-loss commercial.
It turned out to be the latter–weight loss. Because I watched it the whole way through, I guess YouTube figured I liked the ad, so it showed it to me again. Joke’s on them, I was able to capture the video this go around. It’s linked below. Again, I need to give a trigger warning for fatphobia, before/after photos, depictions of emotional abuse and sexual misconduct, as it will be discussed throughout this essay.
So for those who don’t speak Japanese and/or who didn’t watch the ad, here’s the basic gist of it:
Our protagonist, Naomi, is heading home from her business trip. She has a fiancé named Takashi, who she’s supposed to wed soon. When she opens the door, she sees a stranger’s pair of shoes in the foyer. As Naomi walks deeper into the apartment, she hears moans coming from the bedroom.
Her fiancé Takashi is sleeping with another woman.
He brushes off her shock, saying he didn’t expect her to be back from her business trip so soon. The other woman mocks Naomi and ridicules her appearance. When Naomi tearfully asks about their future marriage, Takashi calls her a pig and says he’s embarrassed to walk in public with her, among many other insults.
The other woman says she’s his new girlfriend and tells Naomi to get out of their sight. Naomi runs away to her best friend Azusa, who’s recently lost a lot of weight. She desperately asks how she did it, because Naomi has been dieting and exercising to no avail.
Azusa recommends HMB creatine, as “so many models are using it and it’s a perfect supplement in addition to diet and exercise”. Naomi decides to give it a try and a month later, her weight goes from 70 kg (154 lbs) to 40 kg (88 lbs), and everyone remarks about how beautiful she looks.
The rest of the ad elaborates on how well the creatine works, still with the rapid, high-pitched narration. Then it ends.
A Bucket Full of Red Flags
At first, I thought I didn't like these ads due to my Western cultural background. However, I was wrong. These ads seem universally despised. Click To TweetI don’t inherently have an issue with ads featuring weight loss or fitness products. Weight management is something I’ve personally been working on for a while, and I used to crash diet when I was younger, so any commercial that says, “Hey, want to improve [x]? Try this” will cause me to take a second look. Even if I end up not buying it, I always like to keep an eye on what’s out there.
This ad, however, raises quite a few red flags:
- The protagonist Naomi lost 30 kg (66 lbs) in less than a month. Doctors recommend losing no more than 4.5 kg (10 lbs) a month. What’s more, Naomi’s final weight of 40 kg doesn’t appear on most (admittedly controversial and inaccurate) BMI charts, so even with that narrow scope, Naomi would be considered underweight, even if she was a very short woman.
Women in Japan are routinely pressured to maintain what some online call a “Cinderella weight” that is well below a healthy BMI. These ads capitalize on the Cinderella weight myth. - On top of that, if Takashi was so repulsed by Naomi’s body, why did he date her in the first place? Either she was fat from when they started dating, or she gained weight during the relationship. And again, they were engaged, which most likely means he proposed to her. So why would he just decide to cheat on and dump her so close to their wedding day? And be so spiteful about it?
- Azusa, your best friend just got cheated on, dumped, berated, and kicked out of her house. Are you gonna comfort her on that, or just jump straight to the weight loss talk?
Now while one can argue that it’s simply a commercial that doesn’t deserve too much attention, it does. The whole point of ads is to influence you to buy something. At best, you get an infectious jingle like “Long Long Man” or “By Mennen“. At worst, you get ads such as the one pictured above.
At first, I thought it was my Western sentiment clouding my judgment. Maybe Japanese people like the dizzying melodrama featured in these ads and I just simply didn’t understand the appeal.
It’s common knowledge that Japanese commercials tend to be on the eccentric side. The general strategy is to convey the essence of a product, rather than build a concept around a product as done in the West.
However, I was wrong. These ads seem universally despised.
Noted Opinions of the Ads
The manga, or webtoon ads, are produced by Toomics, a South-Korea based advertising agency. According to them, the manga and comic industry is worth over “a billion [British] pounds”. Naturally, companies are going to capitalize on that.
With the high quantity and low quality of these commercials, it's clear that producers like Toomics and ShinField are churning them out with zero regard for ethics – or even competent writing. Click To TweetAnother manga marketing company, ShinField, gives three very simple reasons why manga marketing is effective: they’re easy to notice, easy to read, and easy to understand.
However, with the high quantity and low quality of these commercials, it’s quite clear that the producers are just churning them out with zero regard for ethics – or even competent writing.
The compilation above includes another weight loss ad from HMB, but this time features a fat man named Kento (also seen in this article’s featured photo) trying HMB after a woman rightfully refuses his sexual advances. Then, after he loses the weight, the woman apologizes for overreacting and then sleeps with him.
Take that for what you will.
Moreover, according to Google reviews, which are also featured in the compilation, the companies behind these ads aren’t ethical either. In regards to the weight loss supplement, one person said it was only 500 yen to join, but then over 7,000 yen/month afterward. After that, it costs over 10,000 yen to cancel the membership.
The Harm That’s Caused
'I was dumped by my boyfriend because I was fat' [sends] an oversimplified message based on the heteronormative concepts of romance in which people are judged solely by their physical appeal to the opposite sex. Click To TweetJapanese netizens refer to them as 「ウザイ漫画広告」(uzai manga koukoku) or “Annoying manga ads”. It’s not hard to find takedown videos of these morally suspicious ads. Such videos are helping to increase social awareness about the harm they’re inducing.
Also on Unseen Japan: Startling Anti-Drug Manga In Japan Draws Intense Mockery
A university student named Murata Aoi has started a Change.org petition against these “annoying manga ads”, according to a July 12th Mainichi Shinbun article. Ms. Murata noted that these commercials exaggerate physical features such as body weight and acne, which leads to body-shaming and humiliation. She notably says that there are “many people including [herself] who get hurt every time they see them.”
The same article features a quote from Tanaka Tohko, a professor of media culture at Otsuma Women’s University. Professor Tanaka discussed how, because these ads are on the internet and not on broadcast television, there are fewer regulations on their quality and content. Furthermore, she notes how the ads leverage people’s insecurities in relationships to sell their product:
“‘I was dumped by my boyfriend because I was fat’ [sends] an oversimplified message based on the heteronormative concepts of romance in which people are judged solely by their physical appeal to the opposite sex, and a norm that people feel they must follow, joining hands with an extreme marketing strategy that uses fear to make people buy things.”
-Tanaka Tohko, media culture professor at Otsuma Women’s University
The ad featuring the character Naomi is a perfect example of this predatory cycle. Rather than use an arguably more positive angle like self-improvement or quality of life, it feeds on fears of loneliness, ostracization and humiliation. And as I’ve stated before, the fact that Takashi and his lover were able to treat Naomi cruelly without abandon, shows that there far more underlying issues in their relationship than his contempt for Naomi’s body.
Summary
Aesthetic or lifestyle changes alone aren't always inherently harmful. But the motivation behind these changes can be. Click To TweetIn the previously mentioned Mainichi article, both Ms. Murata and Professor Tanaka make it very clear that their concerns do not lie with advertising in general. The former wishes to address the method in which these commercials are produced, while the latter addresses the concept behind these commercials.
I agree with both of them.
As much as we are told that we are absolutely perfect just the way we are, that doesn’t mean we never should want to change anything about ourselves. We change ourselves every day – our clothing, our accessories, etc. So aesthetic or lifestyle changes alone aren’t always inherently harmful. But the motivation behind these changes can be.
In regards to weight management, in particular, it should never be motivated by a relationship or normalcy fear. It should be done for personal or health-related reasons, and only with a trusted doctor who prioritizes your well-being over harmful social standards. The same goes for acne-related products as well. Take care of your skin for you, not because you want to date the most handsome man in Japan, as seen in the above compilation.
Recently, Ms. Murata’s Change.org petition received 30,000 signatures. If it’s successful, she’ll take the discussion to Google and three other ad agencies. Let’s hope it goes well.
In the meantime, please enjoy this manga ad parody about a guy named Taro Nikibi (read: Taro Acne or “Acne Boy”) who lands the girl of his dreams after using a skin care product (even though she was extremely rude to him beforehand).
