The Gendered Arc:
Assessing two decades of
gender advertising in Japan
Todd Holden
Tohoku University
presented for the lecture series:
“Gender, Culture, and Society at the Crossroads of
Knowledge”
University of California, Irvine
April 25, 2013
Opening Comments
• I want to thank you for taking the time to participate
in this talk
• I also would like to thank Ted Fowler for the original
invitation and kind words of introduction
• And Hu Ying for overseeing the numerous details that
eventuating in today’s discussion
• It’s been nearly 3 decades since I attended UCI
‣ I spent the better part of 3 years over in Mesa Court, back
when Estrella fronted Campus Drive
‣ Dan Aldridge was the chancellor I used to argue with when I
was in student government
‣ There was no park named in his honor
‣ And only one ring of buildings around it
‣ And importantly, there was no In-N-Out over in University
Center
• So, this return to the campus has been rather eye-opening.
• Life certainly does move on
The Gendered Arc:
Assessing two decades of
gender advertising in Japan
Todd Holden
Tohoku University
presented for the lecture series:
“Gender, Culture, and Society at the Crossroads of
Knowledge”
University of California, Irvine
April 25, 2013
• Greetings.
• Once it was determined that I was going to come speak, the
question then became: what to speak about?
‣ We knew it would be something about gender
‣ Something, too, about Japan
‣ So, that helped narrow it down
–On the other hand, I’ve done work on gender vis-a-vis a
variety of Japanese media
‣ For instance, masculinity in cooking shows
‣ Gendered discourse in fashion magazines
‣ Gender differences in cell phone use
‣ and also hyper-sexualized content on TV shows
–But my more recent research has been on Japan’s sports
nationalism
‣ where media treatments are clearly gendered
“Hail Japan’s Conquering Heroes: Sports reports
and the rhetorics of national efficacy,” in Linda
Fuller (ed.), Sexual Sport Rhetoric: Global and
Universal Contexts. Peter Lang (2010)
“Media Made: The reinvention of athletes as
heroes,
stars,
and
celebrities
in
contemporary Japan“ In: C. Sandvoss, A.
Bernstein, and M. Real, (eds.), Bodies of
Discourse: Sports Stars, Mass Media and
the Global Public. Hampton Press (2012)
And for the past 2 years I’ve been preoccupied with writing
about Three-Eleven in novel form:
Tsunami, 2011
Escape from Sonoyo, 2013
• So, this left a certain dilemma about what to address today.
• But, in thinking about what to talk about upon the occasion of
my return to UCI, I was struck by the theme of returning, in
general
‣ Which led me to think back on my career, to date.
‣ (call me a masochist)
‣ And I began to wonder about the degree to which life
moves on, if at all, in Japanese mediations.
‣ And if so, in what ways.
• And so, thinking about some of my earlier work on gender--in
this case, in advertising, I was compelled to ask the question:
“does it?”
‣ as in: “do things change?”
•
It turns out that there is an enormous amount to cover
and hopefully I won’t fatigue you with the pace at which I
speed through it.
And, as I roll through the next 45 minutes of material, I hope I
won’t strain the bounds of your patience.
If so, just give me a Groucho wriggle of the eyebrows
or a subtle tap of your watch
• Well, we can’t really begin without providing a brief overview of the
communication environment in Japan.
‣ If only to establish that Japan is one of the world’s most mediated,
information rich contexts in the world. For instance:
1. In 2010* its communications sector had the third greatest revenue per
capita [behind the U.S. and Australia (at $1.333 trillion)].
a. Its telecom sector ranked 2nd behind Australia (@$955 billion)
b. Its television sector ranked 2nd behind the U.S. (@$346 billion)
c. Its advertising revenue ranked 2nd behind the U.S. (@$42.85 billion)
2. 43% of its advertising revenue was allocated to TV
3. Roughly equal amounts (16%) were distributed between: Newspapers,
Outdoor, and Internet
a. The mobile advertising market ranked 1st with $10 spent per person
-----
* Source (1-4): “International Communications Market Report, 2011”, Ofcom, 14 December 2011,
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/cmr/cmr11/icmr/ICMR2011.pdf
• 4. In terms of information presence, a recent study revealed
that:
‣ In one month, 99,933 ads were aired in Tokyo, alone
‣ That figures out to: 3,331 per day
‣ and 666 ads among each of the 5 major stations*
• 5. Which is meaningful, since Japanese have, for 40 years,
averaged 3 hours of TV viewing per day.**
‣ and with the aging of the population, now 38% watch 4
hours or more
• ------•
•
* Source: テレビ広告統計/ビデオリサーチ, http://www.videor.co.jp/solution/ad-plan/tv-ad/cmstatic.htm
** Source: Hirata, et al., 2010, “Television Viewing and Media Use Today”.
http://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/english/reports/pdf/11_no9_05.pdf
• In short, the information context is saturated with ideas,
images, jingles, actors, products
‣ it is an enormous daily presence in the lives of Japanese
‣ Which, of course, is additive in terms of messages of
consumerism, consumption and lifestyle
‣ and, as I will show, gender
• Moreover, Japanese ads are complex communication
devices
‣ requiring considerable thought and viewer engagement
‣ as well as demanding high semiotic sophistication from
the Japanese audience
• It might also be wise to share some simple, (hopefully noncontroversial) assumptions which have underlay my research
these many years:
– 1. Advertising is part and parcel of the society in which it
originates;
– 2. It contains symbolic content that both reflects and can
influence society (it is representative and re/productive);
– 3. Its viewers, research has shown, are attentive and
responsive to some of its messages;
– 4. As such, it is far from trivial;
– 5. Its content is amenable to systematic collection and
assessment;
– 6. such that discursive threads pertaining to social
organization, values and behaviors can be gleaned.
• Media anthropologists and visual
sociologists employ many ways of
assessing advertisements.
• One of the more sophisticated is by Leiss,
Kline and Jhally (1990).
They argued that 4 standard formatic
approaches have been employed historically.
But because Japanese advertising did not
develop on the Western schedule, these
presentational styles didn’t arrive by era and
today all be found in the milieu.
Text and a
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In this format, the focus is on the product. Ad rhetoric is rational
and demonstrations help venerate the product.
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• This format trumpets abstract qualities and values over utility. Products
(and their bearers) signal qualities that the users would like to have or
embody.
• The people appearing in the ads are not autonomous entities, but
exemplars of reigning societal values. Messages in these ads can be
about status, family, health, achievement and authority.
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• In this format the model is stylized; her gaze authoritative. The objects
the user employs is at her disposal and serves her narcissistic interests.
Wielded in the sphere of ordinary experience, it provides insight into
her/his psychology. Inferentially, adoption of these products by the
audience will carry derivative psychological rewards, as well.
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•In this format consumption is a spectacle and/or a public enterprise.
Products serve a totem function. They are badges of group membership
and facilitate social differentiation.
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Because these formats did not enter the Japanese
communication context in stages, it is quite common
for them to appear in mixed form.
Here, for instance, product utility and product symbol,
featuring a popular cultural icon as spokesman.
Anchor: This is a New Today (A
New Day has Dawned).
Boys: Shingo-sensei, we look
forward to working with you.
Shingo Katori: Likewise. Ah: (you
have) Body Heater, too.
Boys: Yes.
Katori: It makes you want to
touch it. It’s so soft.
Woman’s Voice, (off-camera)
Katori: Ah, Body Heater!
4 Women (in unison): we look
forward to working with you.
Katori: I want to touch it.
Boy 1: You can’t.
Boy 2: Your arm is getting longer,
isn’t it.
Anchored Text: Makes you want
to touch it. Body Heater.
Narrator: The birth of Seven
Premium Undergarments
19
Critically, from a Post-feminist perspective, we can see that there is
more than format going on in these ads.
‣ They address gender
‣ above all, in terms of body.
‣ Although men may be defined in physical terms (i.e. Ichiro),
‣ They actively use their bodies (i.e. the shaver ad) to further or
achieve goals (Katori Shingo in the clothing ad)
‣ Moreover, men are not reduced simply to their bodies
‣ Bodies merely serve as the housing for personal expression and
activity (as we saw with Shingo’s hand being extended toward the
women’s chests).
In the case of women:
‣ physical appearance and corporeal self-awareness (i.e. the GU
ad) predominate
‣ although it is true that the Panasonic (shaver) ad
associated “beauty” with both its product and the male
model
‣ Women are invariably the subject of gaze
‣ often by males depicted in the ads
‣ women are also more sedentary and leisure-centered than men
(as seen in the JTB/Hawaii ad).
At the same time, women are not indifferent to their physical
definition, nor passive in their presentation.
‣ This is in keeping with Goldman’s (1992) observation (in the West):
‣ that women in ads present themselves in a seemingly objectified
manner . . .
‣ and as willing/desiring subjects
‣ because that suits their liberated interests.
One could argue that this is how the women are presented in the
previous ad for clothing.
• This reminds us that more is at work here than just ad
formats.
• That said, there are other formats that are central to Japanese
communication and actually facilitate the public discourse of
gender.
• There are 3 distinct communication modalities that my work
has identified, including:
‣ Product Less / Product-least
‣ Post-Modern, and
‣ “Ukiyo-ad”
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@2006
• In this format, discourse is about many things, but only
minimally—if at all—about the product.
The product often has little or nothing to do with the activity depicted.
And when the product appears, it usually comes after the main (and unrelated)
action
In this case, communicating to the junior high school cohort that it is okay to think
of young women as pliant dolls, who willingly engage in exhibitionist displays.
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•This format emphasizes non-sense and non-sequitur, pastiche, parody and mini
drama. It is reflexive, culturally and historically referential, and re/productive of
ideas, values and behaviors--in this case, ideals of western femininity, style and
romance.
Third year H* group,
Teacher Afternoon
Soap-opera.
Teacher: (The poet)
Basho’s area was . . .
Lover: Sasako
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want!
Lover: I was bad.
Teacher: You asshole--I
was lonely!
(Door opens)
Older Woman: You
thieving homewrecker!
@2004
Teacher: Mother!
Student 1 to Student 2:
•Bearing some relation to the Post-modern form is Ukiyo-ad:
(simply) teach the class!
arguably the most sophisticated communication form in
Japanese society today. It is both an art form and re/production -----
engine.
* Slang for naughty content
28
• Like Ukiyo-e of yore, Ukiyo-ads are simulacra.
‣
They present self-contained worlds, possessing their own reality
‣
‣
they often feature one or more repeating characters
‣
‣ with parallel institutions, actors, social acts, and outcomes
‣ that simulates aspects of the world outside
‣ yet can stand on their own
whose actions enable the exploration of deep-seated values and
practices, and enable commentary on society, history, current events,
culture (and gender).
they depict consequences and deliver moral messages.
• Having now viewed 9 ads, you might already have some sense about
gender presentation in Japanese TV ads.
‣
I would suspect that you might suspect that:
‣ men and women are presented differently in advertising
–And, indeed, this is what available research suggests.
• But what are the nature of these differences?
‣ are there specific ways that men and women are presented?
‣ and, if so, are these differences consistent?
•
• To answer these questions, let’s look at a few examples.
30
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Ad text: “Before getting stuck with a job that really isn’t for you, use this site.”
Final panel: Comprehensive Jobs Search Social Network.
31
• In thinking about the presentation of gender in this ad, one might ask
some basic questions. Is it meaningful that:
‣ the woman is an astronaut?
‣ that she seems to be under duress?
‣ she is crying as a response to her situation?
‣ in her protest she says “yada” (no way/I protest), “kowai” (I’m
scared) or “mou yameru” (I quit)?
‣ the text implies that the job isn’t suited for her?
‣ (every one of) her bosses are men?
‣ and their response to her is to shout in frustration?
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Product: Otoko Ume (Male Plum) : gummy; hard candy; dry plum
In Japanese culture, there are actually words for “feminine” or
”ladylike” (onna-rashii) and “masculine” or ”manly” (otoko-rashii).
While the astronaut ad does not present a model of femininity, it
does advance a stereotypical view of women from a bygone era.
The male example is surely stereotypical of manliness
‣ here enduring a purification ritual under extreme conditions
‣ coupled with strong historical, cultural and popular cultural
reference
34
One problem in presenting a convincing case of genderisms in
advertising is that ads rarely provide perfectly controlled
opportunities to observe differences in values, practices and
representations of gender.
‣ thus our comparisons are often between unlike products,
produced by different advertisers, on behalf of different sponsors.
Occasionally, though, it is possible to make direct comparison
‣ when encountering a single product
‣ presenting both male and female versions
‣ as is the case in the following two TV ads for Milk circa 2007
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The Female Version
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The Male Version
• In the female version, the young woman is depicted as focused on
the emotional
‣ She is obsessed with beauty
‣ She yearns to be a desired object and also a desiring subject
‣ She is willing to offer physical reward for a worthy suitor
• Whereas in the male version, the young man is portrayed as physical
‣ He defines himself in terms of brute strength
‣ He sees himself as a hero, who saves the helpless maiden
‣ And he associates desire with conquest
• At this point we have a certain inkling that Japanese TV ads
treat gender quite frequently and view men and women as
distinct entities.
• And so one question is: “if so, then how distinct?”
• Answering that with any surety requires certain methodological
tools
‣ i.e. content analysis, induction, theoretical
sampling/hypothesis testing, longitudinal data collection and
comparison
• . . . which will get us to the “do things change?” question
• When it comes to the
methodology, as well as
many of the specific
analytic categories . . .
‣ much of past research
derives its cues from
Erving Goffman’s
landmark work, Gender
Advertisements (1978).
This talk consciously employs his term “Genderism”
‣ which refers to the ways in which gender-based
presentations of women and men are continually
encoded in and transmitted to society's members via
advertising.
Goffman’s formulation has proved enduring and useful:
‣ particularly as a tool in assessing gendered
communications
‣ and especially in advertising research
– In fact, in a work now a decade old, I treated a systematicallycollected sample of Japanese television ads to content
analysis, employing Goffman’s categories
I found that his categories were replicable, despite appearing in a:
‣ different medium,
‣ different time slice,
‣ very different cultural context.
Yet, in working with a recent sample I found it less easy to
locate examples of certain of Goffman’s categories, 10
years later.
They are either scant or else certain narrative elements
undermine or modify their presence.
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Perhaps the most enduring (and ubiquitous) of Goffman’s genderisms is
presentation of women cradling and caressing objects with their fingers,
touching themselves, or others. They are presented as far more tactile than
men, tender, willing to touch, and responsive to touch.
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Another genderism that can still be found is the tendency to depict men as taller and
larger than women, as a means of conveying authority, power or rank. This is often
achieved via foregrounding, as we see at the end of this ad.
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As a hierarchical society, there ought to be many instances of deference and
subordination. Thus, this makes it a bit hard to evaluate Goffman’s claim that
women are presented as submissive or subordinate to men. His measure was
images of women reclining on floors, beds or below men. In this ad, the woman
apologizes to foreign clients and then is positioned lower than a male co-worker.
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In 2000, I found a tendency for men to be depicted in executive roles and being
more functional when engaging with women. Often, this took the form of men
offering expert advice. Today, this is less pronounced and, in this ad, the expert is
slightly derided by the young woman after the fact (as being too serious).
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While women are commonly depicted as dim, Goffman’s notion of “licensed
withdrawal” is harder to uncover.
‣ the idea of women being confused, un-alert, and mentally drifting from the scene,
and men being alert and prepared to fend off potential threats.
‣ It is more the case that women can be passive and deferential to men.
• What can be gleaned from this review is:
‣ the categories suggested by Goffman in the mid-seventies in
North American magazines,
‣ and which I verified in 2000 on Japanese TV
‣ are still discernible in TV ads from 2012
‣ although with some qualifications
• So that gets us to the “does it change?” question.
‣ by this measure, one might argue: “it does, yet only partially, or
else by degree.”
–The fact that we are talking about shift, though, leads me to
suggest a visual concept which I will call “The Genderism Arc”
• The concept of “arc” implies the plotting of points in (here,
historical) space.
• It implies movement and seeks to measure change in terms
of:
‣ direction
‣ kind and/or
‣ amount/degree
• This can enable discussion of specific genderisms, then and
now
– And, importantly, this can assist us in discussing sociocultural shifts in Japanese society.
• To give some rationale for why this might be a worthy
pursuit, consider the following two ads
‣ the first from 2008
‣ the second from 2013
51
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2008
This Anessa (sunscreen) ad is an example of what McNair (2002) calls the
“striptease culture”; one which frequently makes erotic presentation of
women's and (to a lesser extent) men's bodies in public spaces.
• The first ad could be said to be typical in Japan. It:
‣ emphasizes stripped-down women
‣ highlights their physical attributes
‣ denies them voice
‣ depicts them as carefree
‣ uses the camera to stalk, surveille and spy
• This type has been persistent for 5 decades
‣ and has been reinforced by repeated mediations from multiple sources
‣ TV shows during “Golden Time”
‣ Nikkatsu Roman Porno films of the 1970s and 1980s
‣ an enormous adult video market, facilitated by the Internet
‣ Extensive presence of specialty manga, anime, and men’s magazines
‣ All part of an ubiquitous “hyper-sexualized discourse”
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Netz Auris (car): “Turn your rear end to common sense”
• One aspect of Anessa is the partialing of women’s bodies
‣ My earlier research* tended to show that men’s bodies were far
less partialed than women and seldom were the crotch or
buttocks displayed.
‣
Which, in this ad, was likened to the car whose main feature is its rear hatch.
Obviously, this was not the case in the Netz commercial
‣ Where the man is no less stalked and sexualized than the
women of the first ad
‣ The male body is presented as a hyper-sexual object
‣ And, by conventions of color coding and visual address, the
viewer is expecting the model to be a woman.
‣ Which primes us to engage in a gendered reading during the
act of reception and decoding.
----* “The Commercialized Body: A Comparative Study of Culture and Values,”
Interdisciplinary Information Sciences. Vol. 2, No. 2 (November 1996):199-215.
–Judged only from these last two ads, it might be claimed that Japan’s
advertising has changed or is changing.
‣ Although this begs the question whether such change is positive
• Despite evidence of shifts in genderism, there are also numerous
areas where stasis appears to persist. These include:
‣ gender roles
‣ the family
‣ gendered power
‣ naturalized discourse
56
Nissin Cup Noodles, 1996
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This ad was part of a very popular, influential campaign. It is here to show
how advertising creatives only recently viewed gender roles. Their claim,
implicitly, is that such roles existed since the dawn of human history.
• The definition of women and men, and their continued
differentiation is a preoccupation for Japanese advertisers. We
saw:
‣ “at home”/“away from home” and divided tasks (hunting/child
rearing) in the Nissin ad
‣ the emotion/physical divide in the Milk ads
‣ the body/skill and women at leisure/men active divide in the
format ads
‣ an abandoned female melting at the return of her lover in the
Fanta ad.
• In the next ad, we see significant differences in roles and
qualities during a son’s return home with his fiance.
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In this ad, note the distance that the father keeps from his family--a hallmark of
Gender Ads--as well as the construction of motherhood. Particularly, the Mom’s role
as: (a) manager of the home, (b) mediator of her son’s relationship, and (c) host and
gatekeeper with the new addition to their clan.
For post-war Japanese, home has often been a province of great privacy
‣ small, cramped, hard to keep free of clutter.
‣ and, as a result, few guests were invited over.
‣ in part, this was also due to the separation between naka (inside) and
soto (outside), where those not belonging to the ie (home, clan) were not
allowed into one’s personal realm
Yet because family is pervasive in Japanese ads, viewers are often able to
spy inside.
‣ seeing how others live
‣ beyond that, they see representations of the idealized family
‣ that is far from the demographic reality
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Common in family-centric ads are themes of stability, love, and engagement.
The father-mother-children trinity is present, as are distinct parental roles. In
this ad we see all these themes, as well as the artistic dimension of Japanese
advertising and its story-telling ability at its best.
• There is a second version of this ad which is striking
‣ a coda depicts a family next door, being subjected to domestic
violence
‣ the ad encourages the viewer to be vigilant in contacting
authorities when evidence of such abuse comes to their
attention.
• This reminds us that among key genderisms are family dynamics
‣ which can be measured in terms of (for instance): distance, autonomy,
activities or power
‣ In the earlier clips, we have seen evidence of proximity/distance
• In terms of autonomy, my past work revealed a certain paradox:
‣ of women confined to home
‣ yet, relatively freer than men in the outside world, once they were
able to get out
‣ we will see evidence of this in some of the ads to come.
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In this ad, which is among the most culturally rich you’ll encounter, the
naka/soto split as well as ie power dynamics are addressed. These
representations might be said to be an example of what Barthes (1974) called
“myth”.
2010
• The joke in this ad is that the wife is collecting the day’s wage from her husband
the way he has collected the fish from the cormorant. This offers a twist on
what Gill (2007) describes as a trick of advertisers:
‣By employing old stereotypes of (here, traditional) gender relations, the power
displayed by the wife is undermined (in the viewer’s eyes).
‣ Thus, the audience is encouraged to laugh at the irony communicated and reject
the power arrangement displayed.
65
• In these last few ads we have seen a heavy hetero-normative
dimension. As we will discuss later, this is ubiquitous in Japanese
advertising.
• For now, though, I would like to consider another discursive line that
has been steady over the years, and also seems to operate at the
level of cultural myth.
‣
It is the association of women with nature and men with built or
artificial environments.
• This has numerous manifestations with existential implications
• It can be seen in the following two ads:
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Opening Caption: Southern Alps Young girl (maiden)
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• Of course, both protagonists in these ads are dressed in
uniforms
‣ The student in seifuku, the sarariman in his grey suit
• Both are active
‣ the girl dances and the man boxes
• And both receive needed relief from the product
• However, the commentary about their lives differs greatly.
‣ She is free outdoors, in the shadow of (Kai-Komagatake) the
“Southern Alps” (Yamanashi-ken)
‣ He is stuck at his desk in an office and then fights for his life in
the ring.
• Of course, the girl is heading off to a bounded context
(school) where her freedom will be curtailed
• And the man, presumably, has gained a measure of liberation
(with the knockout)
• But the larger associations remain:
‣ women in nature, relatively free, and
‣ men in the constructed world of duty and necessity
• And these messages are consistent and pervasive
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Pocari Sweat
2012
In this ad, though, one can discern a certain inversion of the cultural mythology
• Earlier research unequivocally showed that, when water is
present, men would do anything to avoid contact with it, while
women would submerge themselves, free of concern.
‣ presumably due to their connection with nature
‣ And in cases where men did come into contact with water,
bad things invariably happened to them.
• The previous ad offers a twist: where mishaps keep happening
to the woman in her struggle to reach “land”
‣ her landing spot continues to be water.
‣ her comment is that she is totally unable to accomplish
the feat.
• Of significant note, I find, is another strain that we see in
Japanese media (not to mention the larger society): ijime
(bullying), bordering on what one might label sadism
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circa
2007
By far, the largest discursive genderism thread is hetero-normative discourse.
Of note is a progressive intensification of male-female contact over the past decade.
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circa 2006
And here in extended story-form we encounter a feverish defense of male-female
union. The third-party translation, by the way, is quite flawed, so read this only for
the basic meaning.
• Not all gender
discourse is
hetero-normative,
however.
• In my work on
Japanese fashion,
I discerned
extensive
expressions of
what might be
This
is the
sort of contact that we saw in the
called
“sisterly
earlier
ad for the massaging chair.
sexuality”
Telling us that, in Japan, Goffman’s “feminine
touch” is often directed at women.
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•In this ad we see the mega-popular girl’s group, AKB48, depicted in
ways that move beyond simple sisterly affection toward sisterly
sexuality.
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• Still, given the widespread currency of female-female contact, the most that
we can talk about is degree; of continued movement in a previously
determined direction.
• Thus, if one is to speak of genderism shift in terms of same-sex contact, it
would have to be with regard to men, as the following ad demonstrates.
Despite text which tells us that the sushi chef has the ability to
determine the (true) nature of the raw materials
One notes that at the end of the ad the “victim” of the ruse isn’t
angry; rather he is grateful at the outcome.
‣ After his date tells him there was no injury, the man says: “yes,
thanks to you”
In this way we see how boundaries pertaining to sexuality easily
slip away in the face of exigency
‣ rendering socially-imposed definitions and rules less significant
As analysts what is most noteworthy is that the communication
milieu makes space for homo-erotic expression.
‣ It enables room for shift--even if it is only a shift back.
Moronobu, circa 1686
• Here I am thinking of Leupp’s (1997) claim that homosexuality was normative
during the Tokugawa era
‣it was an important social institution that helped maintain social order
‣ and only declined with the rise of the merchant class and transition to a
Western view of sexuality as a personality trait
‣ and hence was deemed potentially damaging to society.
•Well, it is surely time to bring this extended encounter with Japanese TV
ads to a close.
‣ I appreciate your indulgence
•I will begin what will be an unbrief conclusion by mentioning Pico Iyer, who
recently argued that despite the century of convulsive change, the truths of
Japanese life have changed little, if at all.*
‣ He raises this after observing how, in the novels of Soseki Natsume,
nothing transpires on the surface of his characters’ lives, even though there
is a whirlwind of movement and perpetual self-reinvention in the society at
large.
----* Source: The New York Review of Books, February 7, 2013; Volume 60, Number 2
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• In thinking about that, I am tempted to say that for all the change in
its gender ads, Japan has little to show for it.
‣ the changes, if they exist at all, are trivial
‣ or else they are not reflective of the true ontology of the world in
which the ads play.
‣ Family, obligation, hierarchy, cultural history and values,
gendered roles . . . has any of this really changed?
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For instance, there was a time when colors defined gender:
‣ black for men, red for women (as in this ad above)
‣ with the red often serving as a signifier either of passion or nation
Now, colors have shifted to grays for men and whites or even black for women.
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But, how significant is that?
In the same way, there was a time--not so long ago--where public
display of affection was frowned on and absent from ads
‣ Whereas today, affection is present
‣ With couples now more apt to embrace
‣ And, particularly, women far more sexually aggressive and
physically carefree than two decades ago.
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With physical content no longer an anomaly.
Yet . . . has this influenced the way society is organized or operates?
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• It is surely true that women in Japanese TV ads have far more autonomy than
they once had
‣ They are depicted working outside the home
‣ They freely move through public spaces
• Yet, one might say that this freedom is illusory or else misguided; for it is
predicated on:
‣ consumption
‣ leisure
‣ appearance
‣ playing by a socially-defined set of rules about style and conduct
‣ adopting a subject status of sexual receptivity and sexual aggressiveness
• Moreover, whatever freedom exists has very little connection to the empirical
reality extant in the world of work and political empowerment.
Consider the fact that a sample of Japanese ads will produce a rough
equality in representation and lifestyle options for both sexes.
Yet, their representational reality doesn’t come close to emulating
empirical reality.
‣ Where, for instance, Japan ranks 101st in gender equality among 135
countries
‣The lowest of the G8
‣with Iceland ranked 1st and the U.S. 22nd
‣ And women constituted only 6.2% of Section Managers (or higher) in
private companies;
‣ And the only labor sector where women held majority employment (at
67.2%) was the Service sector
‣ And where parliamentary representation is a scant 7.9% (good for 122nd
among nations).
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• As for public mood, a recent survey by the Yomiuri Shimbun* showed
that after 17 years of growing support for gender equality, there had
been a dramatic reversal
‣ The share of Japanese who thought wives should stay at home
jumped 10.3% to 51.6% between 2009 and 2012
‣ The biggest shift occurred among men in their 20s
‣ from 34.3% to 55.7%
‣ That same sentiment rose among women in the same age bracket
from 27.8% to 43.7%
------
* Source: Gus Lubin, “There Has Been An Alarming Spike In Gender Inequality In Japan”, Dec. 18, 2012; See also:
http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-is-giving-up-on-gender-equality-2012-12
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Which doesn’t even address what happens in the workplace.
Indeed, most ads veil one of the more troubling aspects of society today: what
might be termed organized institutional violence.
Here, the elder men in the hierarchy prefer to observe the “OL” (i.e. Office
Lady) and criticize her performance amongst one another, rather than help her
learn how to use the machine.
‣ They revel in her futility.
‣ referring to her as an object
‣ Yet, she can’t do more than escape into fantasy to vent her rage.
‣ Telling herself that she has to “persevere”
It should be observed that not all institutional violence is directed at women;
yet they do remain the main targets
‣ as we also saw in the ad for canned coffee when the bu-cho laughed at the
employee’s photo on her ID card.
It can be seen as part of an historical “taken for grantedness” regarding ijime
between strong and weak, and a cultural tolerance of sadomasochism between
the sexes.
‣ where we saw the lone girl in the Pocari Sweat ad (earlier) enduring the jeers
of her male “friends” when trying to vault onto the raft.
‣ and, despite her repeated failures, she felt impelled to continue jumping.
• Which is why, in thinking about the examples I presented today, and in light of
Iyer’s assessment, I can’t help but think of the distinction between tatemae and
honne
‣ the behavior and opinions one displays in public and a person's true feelings
‣ long-regarded as a principle of social structuration in Japan*
‣akin to “frontstage”/”backstage” or appearance/reality
‣ Here I would mean it more in the sense of the apparent change that is visible in
communications versus the truth beneath the surface, which may not have
changed at all.
‣at the level of societal ontology.
‣ where belief and organization reside, and with which practice meshes.
------* Doi, Takeo (1973), The Anatomy of Dependence: Exploring an area of the Japanese psyche: feelings of indulgence, Kodansha
International.
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• So, while we can speak of movement on the Genderism Arc, I believe
we are talking about change that is:
‣ sporadic, partial, limited, regressive, uncoordinated and unrelated
to the demographic realities in Japan.
• And, save for a few notable areas of exception, it isn’t positive unless
one values the definition of human agents as:
‣ reproducers of the cultural and social order
‣ overly self-conscious
‣ self-possessed
‣ body-oriented
‣ appetite-directed
‣ consumers
• Which Japan’s Gender Ads clearly, consistently do.
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Well, that’s a rather gloomy note to be ending on . . . so, to conclude, let me offer
you this.
Here is a recent Milk ad, which features a young boy dreaming of success as an
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Olympic wrestler.
Of particular note here is that:
‣ the young boy’s role model is a female gold medalist.
‣ the ad validates his aspirations by showing his father’s support, as
they cheer the grappler in her match.
This is perhaps reflective of the recent success of Japan’s female
athletes in international competition
‣ who have been relatively more accomplished than their male
counterparts
‣ and have helped raise the prestige of the nation.
One might wonder--if not hope--that this hints at a dramatic change
in the way that gender has been, can and will be viewed in the future,
in Japan.
• Thank you very much
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