“Black Melon Pan” Afros as food: Insensitive marketing by Mini-Stop Konbini
Posted by debito on December 13th, 2010
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Hi Blog. Here’s a letter from cyberspace on another potentially offensive marketing campaign portraying African features as black-bread Afros to sell food.
No doubt we’ll get the defenders of this sort of marketing, e.g. “Japan has so few black people it has no sensitivity to this sort of thing”, “it’s not racist, at least not intentionally”, “lighten up guys, and stop foisting your cultural values on the Japanese”, or “it’s a Japanese character, not a real black character, so it’s not a problem”. Any other naysaying? Oh wait, yeah, “you just don’t get Japan”. Anyway, check this out. Arudou Debito
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November 20, 2010:
Hi Debito, My name is XY, Founder and Director of [....] a marketing consultancy in [Japan] that researches Japanese consumer behavior on behalf of our international clients like Coca-Cola, VISA credit cards etc. As such, I often peruse the shelves of convenience stores to see what the latest trends are. I was shocked to find in my local Mini-Stop the all-new campaign for ブラックメロンパン, a bread that parodies a black man’s afro on the package. This is no small thing. Mini-Stop is a very large and growing combini chain and this is a signature campaign prominently advertised and displayed on their shelves.
I read your JT articles often and appreciate all of them. I figured you are the man to bring light to this latest scandal. I also read your article on the McDonald’s campaign and agree wholeheartedly… however this Mini-Stop campaign is just so much more overt and insensitive… even more so than the EMobile monkey monstrosity.
I have attached a couple photos below (click to expand in browser):
Best Regards, XY.
ENDS
December 13th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Plus who wants to eat hair? Stupid association of food with hair.
December 13th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
The E-mobile monkey was harmless. This is an actual marketing campaign relying entirely on racial stereotypes. Not cool.
December 13th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Slight correction – this is a Japanese man’s afro being “parodied,” (more accurately, joint marketing) and a comic book Japanese man in particular:
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E9%80%80%E3%82%A2%E3%83%95%E3%83%AD%E7%94%B0%E4%B8%AD
December 13th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Really what is there to say about this?
Thread after thread after thread about the racism/prejudice/nationalism of the Japanese has appeared on this website for years. I don’t see that anything has changed for the better at all.
All this blatant racism is an accepted ingrained part of the Japanese psyche, for it to ever change there has to be a want to change. When people see nothing wrong with it, where on earth is the will to want to change come from? It’s not going to happen. Any argument from outside will remain just that, the ideas of gaijin who cannot understand the sensibilities of the japanese…..soto ideas..incompatible with nihonjinron and the uchi mindset.
When the government flagrantly ignores/bypasses international treaties, UN conventions, schools teach racism, television promotes racism and the police foster it, what hope is there really?
I think it is disgusting and appalling but I fear that if one is to live in Japan, one must put up with the intrinsic racism of the japanese, nothing is going to change it.
Not in my lifetime or that of my half children.
– Calm down. Save this outrage for when a real doozy of racist sentiment filled with genuine hatred comes along. This time it’s merely an insensitive ad campaign. Channel your energies to sending a letter of complaint to the seller or the marketer, if so inclined.
December 13th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Dear Debito,
I’ve been a long time reader since high school and I often agree with what you have to say regarding race relations in Japan. However, and I know I may be considered a “naysayer”, I have to disagree with you that this is racially insensitive. I’m a fan of the manga that this character is from (Jyoukyou Afro Tanaka) and he’s an ethnically Japanese character. Moreover, one of my good Japanese friends when I was studying abroad at Waseda last year had a full afro so this hair style is not limited to just people of African descent. As for calling it “Black Melon Pan”, I don’t think they meant to refer to black people as it’s clear from the photo that the melon pan is incredibly dark and almost black-ish in color (as opposed to standard sugar cookie melon pan) coupled with the fact that Tanaka’s afro is black and he’s acting as the mascot for this campaign. I’d would absolutely agree with you if, for example, the mascot was like a Sambo character or something like that but the facts are that afros are not exclusively African, the mascot is Japanese with a black afro and the melon pan itself is colored to reflect that. I’m sorry, but I just don’t think this is a case of insensitivity on Mini Stop’s part.
I do really love the site though. Keep up the good work Debito.
– Thanks. Anyway, this is not naysaying. This is what’s called offering reasonable counterargument. Thanks for it.