Athletes Advertising Empire
cultural communiqués
from consumtopia
about a leisure nation
Todd Joseph Miles Holden
Professor
Department of Multi-Cultural Studies
Graduate School of International
Cultural Studies (GSICS)
Tohoku University
Sendai, Japan
Paper prepared for the
International Association for
Media and Communication Research
porto Alegre, Brazil
July 25 – 30, 2004
Media and Sport Stars
Tuesday, 27 July, 13:30-15:00
I. Introduction:
This Talk… in a nutshell
Contemporary Japan is at least two
things, neither of which is
mutually exclusive:
an “empire of leisure”
–
in which play has been elevated to a
status superior to that of work
an “empire of consumption”
–
–
an everyday space saturated with
goods and services;
a “consumtopia” whose lifestyle is
predicated on the production and
consumption of things.
The Role of Advertising
Integral
to
both
of
these
orientations is advertising.
For, in communications that aim at
centering goods in the minds of
consumers, one encounters the
repeated message of leisure
– of having the time, lifestyle, and
appropriate mental outlook to
consume.
-- So, too, do ads convey the
imperative
of
frenetic
consumption.
The Centrality of Consumption
In the past decade or so, the ads
have become products to be
consumed
– perhaps as much or more so than
the products they advertise.
They center on the lifestyle of
consumption,
the
logic
of
consumtopia
An example is this:
Lessons from this Ad…
We view a star athlete, Hideki Matsui
– Currently starring for America’s premier baseball team, the
New York Yankees
He comes to viewers in Japan from inside the TV
– This signifies his distance (he performs overseas and is
generally now only consumed by his audience via satellite)
His words (“ohtsukare sama desu”) toasts the hard
work performed by his audience (of sports
fan/consumers) back home
We then see a wide range of “types” (male female;
young, middle aged, elder) in their various work
(fields) and relaxation (beach, pub, parks) settings.
“Play” and “Smile”
The ad campaign is
currently 4 ads old
Consistent, though, is:
– Hideki Matsui
– The theme song (“The Games
People Play”)
– The catch phrase: “Big Smile”
These are significant
significations
– They carry big impact for a
society such as Japan
The Meaning of Key Words
“Play” and “Smile” are key words because they signify that
Japan has become, what I call a “Leisure Empire”
This is a profound societal change:
– No more than 60 years ago this society was in physical,
emotional and moral ruin
– Not 50 years ago it was struggling to right itself
economically
– Not 40 years ago it was entering a cycle of rapid economic
growth
– Only 30 years ago did it begin experiencing high levels of
consumption and an increase in leisure time
– Even 20 years ago its “sararimen” were still routinely
putting in grueling 18 hour, 6-day work weeks
– Only in the past 10 years has the work week been
shortened and leisure time has begun to increase
meaningfully
In short, Japan is a society which has known work rather
than pleasure, self-sacrifice rather than self-expression
and selfishness
There was little to smile about, little play involved in daily
life.
Consuming Public Performers
So, too, have ads become texts that
enable the consumption of the human
figures depicted in the communiqués:
– the spokespeople whose images are lent
to the product
as, for instance in this ad, by former
(American) major league baseballer, Shinjo
or in this ad starring Olympic ping-pong
player, “Ai-chan” (as she has been called for
over a decade of TV appearances and
celebrity)
The Emerging Athlete
Increasingly, in Japan, these
figures are athletes.
These athletes are both male
and female…
– though most often the male
They are performers in both
domestic and foreign leagues
– though more often the foreign
The products they represent
range from life insurance to
cars, credit cards to beer, film
and cameras to sports drinks.
Results
Beyond messages of consumption, the
results of such advertising activity
move in numerous directions, at
once:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Celebrity
Identity
Globalization
Nationalism
Gender
Cultural similarity and difference
II. Intellectual Precursors
This work moves comfortably
from previous sports/mediarelated research, notably:
– Sports Exports/Media ReImport (Holden 2002)
and its relationship to
globalization
– Empires of Leisure (Holden
2004)
and the relationship to
political, economic and
socio-cultural development
A. Japan’s Sports Exports
In “Japan’s Sports Exports” I identified
the phenomenon of Japanese
athletes plying their trade in
overseas’ markets and having their
exploits “reimported” by media.
This phenomenon:
– links to globalization;
– Is effected most often by news reports;
– Serves as moral and nationalistic
meditation on Japanese identity
Media Flows in and Between
Countries
Country 1
Bilateral
Country 2
Multilateral
Country 3
Adapted from Sepstrup, 1989
Bilateral
Unilateral
Japan
United
States
Bilateral
Flow of Sport Exports:
1995-2003
Holland
England
Germany
Italy
Unilateral
2003: Television and Print
Information Re-import
Japan
United
States
Unilateral
Primary Media Flow of
Japan’s Sports Exports
2003: Television and Print
Holland
England
Germany
Italy
Unilateral
Information Re-import
Japan
United
States
Unilateral
Primary Media Flow of
Japan’s Sports Exports:
Actual Pattern
Time 2: Advertising Visualization/Recreation of
Overseas Athletic Lives
Holland
England
Germany
Italy
Unilateral
United
States
Japan
Unilateral
Secondary (Parasitic) Media
Flow of Japan’s Sports Exports
B. Empires of Leisure
Concept and Components
The Concept:
Empires of Leisure:
Install a particular lifestyle at its core:
– One of relaxation, disposable time, disposable
income
Are consumer-driven
Are consumption-oriented
Are mediated
– Most often, leisure is communicated
and/or experienced through forms such
as TV, Movies, Internet, Cell phone
In important ways are socially,
politically, economically, historically,
and/or morally re/productive
Conceptualizing Empire:
Key Strata
3 Strata:
– Leisure Supra-structure
– Leisure Infra-structure
– Leisure Consumer
Conceptualizing Empire:
the Leisure Supra-structure
Within the Leisure Supra-structure, 2
dimensions:
– Political Dimension: the philosophy,
practices encouraging leisure
production and consumption
– Economic Dimension: the outlook
and apparatus aimed at producing,
delivering and consuming leisure
The Economic Dimension
Underlying media and its consumption is a
certain economic milieu and consumer
capability.
For instance, Japan is:
– Considered the second-most-technologically-powerful
economy in the world after the U.S.
– Listed as the third-largest economy after the U.S. and China
– The largest aid donor in the world
– Second (to U.S.) in per-capita national income (2002)
– Third (to U.S. and Canada) in purchasing power by volume
per capita (2002)
– Third in budget expenditures
– Fifth in budget revenues
– Tenth in business efficiency
Conceptualizing Empire:
the Leisure Infra-structure
Within the Leisure Infra-structure, 2
aspects:
– Means/Sites of Leisure Consumption
Included here is media
– Means/Goods of Leisure Production
A Media Rich Environment
For instance, compared to other
nations, Japan has:
– The Third-most number of TVs per
capita
Behind China and the U.S.
– The Second-most number of PCs
Behind the U.S.
– The Third-most mobile cellular phones
Behind the U.S. and China
– The First-most number of Fax Machines
Conceptualizing Empire:
the Leisure Consumer Stratum
Within the Leisure Consumer Stratum, key
factors include:
– Time (opportunities to consume)
– Disposable Income (ability to
consume)
– Access to media technology
– Activities engaged in (actual kinds of
consumption)
Work Time
Most importantly, work time has steadily
decreased over the years.
From a society dubbed an “economic
empire” in the mid-1980s:
where work, alone, was the measure of success
Now work time is on the decline:
– A 2004 survey indicates that in the last decade,
work time has declined across all industries,
on average, 17.9 hours
or roughly 3.58 hours per day, given a 5 day work
week.
--
Japan in Figures, 2004
Statistic Bureau
Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommnuications
http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/figures/pdf/2004f.pdf
And Leisure Time
Concomitantly, leisure time has steadily
increased over the years.
– A 2001 Survey found that – as compared
to 1996 – both males and females
spent far less time on secondary
activities – such as work – and more
time on tertiary activities (free-time
activities).
-
Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and
Telecommnuications
- http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/shakai/2001/jikan/yoyakuj.htm#A
Leisure Hours
Year
Activity
1976
Male
Female
1991
Male
Female
2001
Male
Female
10.41
10.42
10.19
10.30
10.30
10.42
Secondary
7.38
8.04
7.33
7.46
6.41
7.01
Tertiary
5.41
5.14
6.08
5.44
6.39
6.17
Primary
In short: Over the past 3 decades:
• work hours have decreased by nearly an hour a day for both men
and women;
• leisure time has increased for both nearly an hour;
• The disparity between the two in terms of leisure time is
decreasing, though only marginally
Contemporary Japanese
Time Use
Not only is leisure increasing…
The primary leisure activity (consuming
media) is third among all human activities
– At 2.24 hours/day
It trails only:
– Sleep: 7.32 hours/day
– Work: 4.34 hours/day
Note: other surveys place TV consumption,
itself, at over 3.30 hours/day
– I.e. well in excess of the leisure figures listed
above
Styles of Discourse: Infotainment
Within the milieu is a kind of
communication approach -- a rhythm
of that lifespace… which assists this
leisure consumption
In contemporary televisual
communication this is often referred
to as “infotainment”
Styles of Discourse: Infotainment
In Japan, infotainment is a genrespanning discourse (what Holden
and Ergul [2004] and Ergul [2004]
have called a “supra-discourse”)
– it underpins consciousness
– provides a logic for and style of
organizing and presenting mediated
communication.
Content: a melding of popular,
information and entertainment
Popular culture has always provided much of
the stuff for leisure consumption
Now, however, these are melded with the
supra-discourse:
– the “popular” is loaded into and located
in everything from advertising to quiz
shows to news to “wide-”, “wake up” and
variety shows
– this is particularly true of athletes and
their sports, as I have shown in other
research (Holden 2002, 2003).
Content: a balance of indigenous
and exogenous elements
Under contemporary conditions, globalization
ensures that the stuff of leisure
consumption may not all be indigenous
Usually we think of exogenous material as
that which is imported – that enters the
focal context from outside
However, in the case of Japanese sports and
athletes, it is often the case that
indigenous material (local athletes and
teams) become exogenous (through their
play outside the country). They are reimported by local media for consumption
by local viewers and fans.
Media Re-import: Effects
As a phenomenon, media re-imports are:
– Pervasive
– Powerful
Re-imports:
–
–
–
–
Constitute a daily, non-stop set of representations
Across the panoply of TV genres (primarily)
Reflect a unified discourse:
Offer windows into subterranean topics (culturally
relevant societal myths), such as:
Cultural and political identity
Individual capacity
Gender identity
Nationalism
Advertising, Empire, Consumption
and Athletic Re/Imports
Building on this
concept, the
focus in this
talk is on the
important role
that
advertising
plays in the
Re/import
process
Advertising Athletes
The settings in which they appear are
as often as not set in countries
beyond Japan’s borders…
– As for instance, this ad:
The athletes engaging in lifestyles
alien to the “normal” rhythms of
“indigenous” Japanese life.
III. Athletes as Advertisers
1. Footballers
Nakata
Ono
Takahara
Nakamura
2. Baseballers
Matsui
Ichiro
Shinjo
3. Others
Takahashi (Naoko)
Mediations and Discourse
As I have discussed in other published work, much
of the mediation of Japanese athletes – whether
in news, wide-shows, talk shows or ads – has
focused on challenge (in foreign leagues) and
success.
These mediations often seemed couched in the
vernacular of national achievement, with athlete
as signifier for nation.
Together, these mediations are so constant and
their frames so narrow, it operates as a
discursive formation.
– Concerning, first, individuality
– Then national identity
– And, finally, via aggregated success, nationalism
The New World Japanese
One of the threads that my work has
yet to emphasize is comfort in the
world beyond Japan’s borders.
– Because of Japan’s historical isolation
and also what has been labeled it “gaijin
complex” (or fear of foreigners), this is
significant.
This theme of “thriving beyond” can be
seen in ads for 3 foreign-based soccer
players, Hidetoshi Nakata, Shinji Ono
and Naohiro Takahara.
Ono’s World
Shinji Ono is a soccer player who has spent
the last 3 years playing in the Dutch
League.
He is a “Japanese success story”
– in that he has “survived” in a competitive
international league
– also because he has mastered the language
(historically a psychological barrier that has
kept Japan in isolation)
– These ads emphasize his comfort in that
international, alien, world
Deeper Discourse
Certainly this is nothing more than a trifling 15
seconds;
– A “feel good” vignette
– The interchange merely shows that the girl wishes to
spend time with Ono on another picnic, he loses the ball
and she scolds him to take care of things important to
him.
Yet it does work to communicate that Ono is:
– Comfortable in the alien world
– That he is accepted and has a place there
– In fact, in another ad, Ono is shown speaking Dutch (to
himself – as if this was the most natural thing) and then
receiving enthusiastic support from his young fans.
Japanese, in short, not only CAN survive; they can
THRIVE overseas.
A Constant Theme
This theme of overseas comfort and success
is covered time and again in ads for
Japan’s athletic exports
 as if this is a point of fascination – if not
downright disbelief – for Japanese.
If nothing else, it provides regular,
workaday stiffs, stuck in their insular,
restricted Japanese life, a way of
experiencing efficacy, if only vicariously
The drudgery of their everyday life is
somehow mitigated by experiencing the
conquests of these sports heroes.
Takahara’s World
In a series of ads for a charge card (called
“Life Card”), the footballer Takahara
Naohiro is shown moving through his daily
paces in Germany.
Here is only a partial ad, but it shows him signing
autographs and talking about how coming to
Europe was a big chance for him.
“Chances don’t wait,” he says. “You have to make of
them what you can.” One does it by themselves.
This reflects the new “Do It Yourself”/“Can Do”
attitude of Japanese today (as communicated
through their commercial athletes).
Nakata’s World
Hidetoshi Nakata is a soccer player
who has spent the last 6 years
playing in Italy’s Serie A for a
number of teams.
He was the first soccer success story
– Successful not only for his play on the
field, but his mastery of the language
as this ad (showing him as the center of
attention at an Italian party) makes clear
Nakata’s Message of Challenge
Acceptance and Aplomb
Another aspect of Nakata’s success is his
comfort out in the world. His willingness to
challenge new things
– as in the African ad we saw earlier
– Or in a Coke ad (which like the copier ad, places
him at the center of a party with Caucasians,
laughing, joking, playing, consuming)
example
So, too, his association with (and embrace
of) “style” and glamour
as the following ad makes clear
The Ixy Ad
The operant elements of this ad are:
– The cat and mouse between a foreign woman
and a Japanese man
– The Japanese man navigates a maze-like
environment
Emblematic of his ability to survive in a complicated
foreign milieu
Symbolic of the ability of all Japanese to so succeed
– The fact that the woman is willing to be caught
by this Japanese man is also symbolic of
“foreign” desire (for Japanese) and (Japanese)
efficacy in obtaining the foreign.
Internationalizing Japan
One of the key themes for Japan beginning
in the 1980s and through the 1990s was
“internationalization”
– Stepping out of the shadows of isolationism
– Of course, this was the result, in large part, of
a globalizing economy
In ads we see this in numerous Nakata ads
– The earlier C2 ad where he eats pizza and
plays fusbol at a party with Caucasians
– In the following Canon copier ad where he is
literally swarmed over by Italians with whom
he interacts (in Italian) with comfort and
aplomb.
Global Dimensions
For the most part these athletic
endorsements have been by “Japan’s
Sports Exports”.
– Domestic heroes certainly serve as “image
characters”
For instance, baseballers Kiyohara and Takahashi
have had ad campaigns (for beer).
Shinjo is a domestic figure (now) and even (former
Major League manager) Bobby Valentine has an ad
(although for the parent company that owns his
team
– Notably, both Shinjo and Valentine have had
international careers
Local to Global
Even when the local is
presented, it often is in a
global context…
– As in the case of this Olympic
gold medal winner who is
shown instructing young kids,
then exhorting her country to
“fight hard”
The farm equipment maker
is said to give those working
in the fields an edge to “fight
hard” as well.
Local Elements
As we know from recent theorization,
globalization is as much a theory of
local as it is of global.
In many of these ads the discourse is
something beyond globality
– Instead, about hybridity, indigenization or
even the resistance of the global
The Shijo Ad
Recall in the ad for “Morning Serve”
Shinjo is a signifier/icon for difference
– His character is “original” (unique, even strange, unJapanese)
This is underscored by his using a frying pan as a bat
His long, red cooking gloves (long red arm bands were
a trademark for him in his baseball career)
And, of course, these colors are indexical of Japan’s
flag.
The food Shinjo prepares begins as an American meal (i.e.
sausage)
He then indigenizes it (wrapping it in dried seaweed and
rice)
This serves as commentary on how a foreign product can
appeal to locals; how it can be hybridized to meet local
desires/preferences
How you can “take the the boy out of the country, but not
take the country out of the boy”.
Transculturation:
A Matsui Example
So, too, in one of Matsui’s ads (not shown here)
– for vegetable juice – he eats a morning
breakfast by himself in his New York apartment.
– We know it is New York from the establishing shot of
the Empire State Building and the Island of Manhattan.
– The breakfast he cooks is a hybrid: a fried egg, but
eaten in the traditional way: with rice, pressed fish,
soybean soup.
– He uses Japanese bowls and chopsticks.
Reterritorialization:
“Little Matsui” and his Osaka-ben
In the following ad, Kazuo Matsui speaks
his local (Osaka) dialect as he tries to
convince consumers of his sincerity…
– “I’m not lying! This is the truth” he pleads to
the camera.
– the issue is that he is insisting that he actually
brought this product with him when he went to
play baseball in America.
This serves as an example of cultural
selection, holding onto the familiar (or
local) in the face of difference (here, living
and working in a foreign country).
Consuming Athletes
Of course, beyond the
nationalist and
identity discourse,
there is simply the
consumption of
athletes (in our
viewing of their
minientertainments); as
they consume the
products in the ads.
Skills on Display
When Ichiro goes careening through a
crowded American city to track down
a fly ball, there is the pleasure of
viewing his considerable speed,
determination, “stick-to-it-iveness”
Or when Shunsuke Nakamura shows
that he is better than water-ghosts,
we feel the thrill of his abilities
Consuming Messages
And while there may be small
messages of nation, group
identity, or (for instance)
perseverance in daily life, in
many cases, ads are still about:
– The product;
– Keeping a leisure nation
entertained;
– Keeping a consumtopia consuming.
As this Matsui offering makes clear
Conclusions
In this talk I focused on Japan’s athletic ads.
Significations were shown to speak prominently
of nation and the foreign vis-à-vis these athletes
and their lives
Beyond what the athletes advertise, I was most
concerned with what these ads tell us about the
dual empires that have given athletes voice:
– the culture of consumption and
– the cult of leisure.
In my view, this selective vector of sports-related
communication tells us a great deal about:
– the current state of Japanese society – based as it is on
leisure, celebrity, athletic achievement
– a globalizing world, and
– changing attitudes about Japan’s place (via its athletic
successes) in the world.