Inclusive Marketing Tips from Asia: Exploring a Japanese Noodles Ad

A popular Japanese brand, Toyo Suisan, recently released anime-inspired advertisements on social media to promote its noodle products. One version features a hardworking male office worker having a bowl of soba noodles while the other depicts a young woman eating ramen in her bedroom as she sniffs over a television drama. At first glance, these appear to be merely advertisements about noodles infused with anime anesthetics to draw the audience's attention. But digging a little deeper uncovers the underlying gendered narratives and themes.

The advertisement featuring the young woman has now garnered millions of views on X (formerly known as Twitter), but it has also been a hot topic of debate in Japan. In this article, we explore both of the advertisements, highlighting what went wrong and what advertisers can do to prevent backlash, thus providing insights into what could constitute more inclusive advertising in Asian markets. 

We aren't critical of the advertisements' anime style as it has become typical for Japanese advertisers to rely on anime aesthetics to appeal to consumers. We are more focused on the gendered aspects of the advertisements which may not immediately be clear to many people.

Controversial or Not?

On February 6, the brand released the anime-themed advertisements on its YouTube and X. The advertisements, illustrated by a popular Japanese animator, stand out for leveraging anime-like character design to capture the attention of consumers. Anime is, after all, Japan’s strongest cultural asset and a multi-billion industry. Anime enthusiasts might have easily become fascinated with the advertisements; the advertisements combined ramen and anime, a dream pairing! 

The female version of the advertisement depicts a flushed-cheeked young woman in her bedroom, slurping on udon noodles as she becomes emotional while watching a television drama and tenderly whispers ‘delicious’. Contrastingly, the brand also released a similar anime-style advertisement for its soba noodles which shows a young man in an office setting who consumes the noodles gratefully before returning to work. In essence, the advertisements adopt a conventional approach of mixing and matching ‘ASMR’ and ‘gourmet anime’ themes to catch attention. 

Soon the quotes and replies to the X post became filled with critical comments, with many pointing out the unrealistic and sexual portrayal of women in the udon noodles advertisement. Others retorted, saying that there was nothing sexual about what was to them a cute and innocent advertisement. We believe that the advertisement does have some issues: it relies on the ‘male gaze’ and promotes the objectification of Japanese women by using them as props and exaggerating ‘feminine’ expressions/ features. 

Male Gaze: Selling Noodles or Selling Women?

The male gaze has been criticized for its ‘unnatural facial expressions/gestures/voices’ or ‘feeling the gaze of men on women”’. This unique way of depicting women in anime is often referred to in sociology as the ‘male gaze’. It is common in anime to project the way men see women, that is, women who contain ideal qualities from a male perspective. For example, anime scenes from Luck and Logic and Ro Kyu Bu have been subject to online scrutiny for oversexualising and infantilising girls and women by portraying them through the male gaze; the scene from Luck and Logic which involves one of the female characters chewing chicken pieces with exaggerated expressions and flushed cheeks raised the question if it was designed for ‘fan service’. Such expressions have been employed often in the anime industry, so it is not entirely the fault of the creators of this advertisement, but the male gaze when depicting women only (re)produces stereotypical images of women. 

A Narrow Definition of Femininity 

The advertisement’s excessive focus on the woman’s facial features, such as the blushed cheeks and small lips, accentuate certain ideals of femininity and sexualise the act of eating. More than half of the 35-second video focuses on the woman's face and movements while this is not the case for the male version. Consumers who watch the male version of the ad will also immediately notice that the expressions specific to ‘young women’ and the causes of the outrage mentioned above are directed at the attributes of ‘young women’. Even though it's a food commercial, it shows a gaze that admires young women, a common occurrence in anime and broader Japanese media which has a tendency to centralise youthful, ‘kawaii’ (cute) women and objectify them. Additionally, it is worth considering the camerawork of the advertisement which may resemble a form of secret recording as is sometimes seen in Japanese advertisements featuring mainly female models/ characters. Since the product the company wants to promote in the advertisement is food, it is natural to show the mouth of the female character. However, there are many scenes that center the eyes and ears, which are unrelated to the product. It’s understandable that creators want to focus on the mouth or the product to create the ‘sizzle’ of the product, but again, scenes showing the eyes and ears are not connected to the appeal of the product, rather perhaps connected to the advertisers’ traditional beliefs of femininity. 

Whether or not the depiction focuses on women longer than the product itself is something that British and American companies check when measuring consumer acceptance of advertising as a risk management measure (for details, you can refer to GEM). The reason for this is because in the past, advertisements aimed at men that were structured to draw attention to female representations rather than the product stirred an outcry; for example, burger advertisements often and continue to use objectified and sexualised imagery of women to promote products. In the UK, for example, advertising expressions that emphasize sexual expressions rather than the product are currently subject to regulation by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). In addition to sexual expressions, there are other themes and tropes which are assessed in the gender context, such as whether only male characters are speaking. The absence of such standards in many parts of Asia means that it is difficult to regulate advertisements with sexualised representations of women. 

Reinforcing Gendered Expectations 

Men and women can be portrayed differently, but when there are differences in the way they are portrayed, such as men at work and women at home crying while watching a drama, or as mentioned above, it gives the impression that the advertisement is based on gender stereotypes, and the company is complicit in reproducing stereotypes through its advertising. Writer Ono Miyuki flags this, ‘While the male version is depicted in a realistic manner, the female character is portrayed in an overly exaggerated (fictional) manner as the "object of gaze," which is what makes the sexual asymmetry in the commercial stand out’. Miyuki rightfully highlights that the depiction of the woman as ‘emotional’ and the man as ‘hardworking’ may reinforce gendered expectations: 

Although the story is set in a room, the perfect place to portray a character's personality, there is nothing written that reflects the woman's personality (age, occupation, hobbies, interests, etc.). Therefore, it is impossible to empathize or sympathize with her. The male version contains realistic writing that gives a glimpse into the main male character's occupation, personality, and working environment, which makes the impersonality of the female version of the character all the more apparent.

Certainly, we are not claiming that there are no young women who eat ramen like the woman in this advertisement, who sit and behave like that, and that female consumers will not be drawn to the product. Additionally, it should be highlighted that the illustrator behind the advertisements is a woman. However, to repeat, the portrayal of the female character falls short because it employs outdated gender ideals which fail to resonate with socially and culturally conscious audiences. Thus, it is less about who creates these advertisements and more about the perceptions and underlying gendered themes these advertisements may be infused with. 

Multiple Interpretations

Corporate communications are often received differently than the company intended because society has an interpretation that is different from the original meaning. Many controversial advertisements have leveraged on the possibility of ‘double meanings’ or ‘multiple interpretations’ to justify the use of certain imagery. For example, in Japan, women's business suits, school swimsuits, and uniforms, in addition to their original meanings of ‘official’ and ‘school uniforms’, can also be interpreted as sexual objects by some men. Care must be taken when using such objects with various meanings in advertising. And to research this, it is important to regularly interact with and get to know people with different values and attributes.

Takeaways and Tips for Improving Representation in Advertisements

In this article, we analysed the recent case of Manchuran’s noodle advertisements that went viral, and uncovered the practices in the anime industry, problems with female representation, and gender stereotypes in advertising. The first step in managing advertisement backlash is to see it as an ‘insight that was not visible’. When advertisers are confronted with criticism, they have a choice to address social issues as well as increase corporate profits. 

In order to understand why advertisements may be criticised, to properly convey a message, and to properly listen to the real voices of citizens, it is necessary to understand various factors such as the social background, the target audience’s tendencies, and emotions. We provide support to companies by utilising our experience in advertising evaluation, advertising exhibitions, and projects to remake flaming ads with citizen participation. If you have concerns about your company's advertising or the content you are sending out, we can help you, so please contact Towards Change/ Ad-Lamp.