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Ad Showing Naomi Osaka With Light Skin Prompts Backlash and an Apology
Naomi Osaka, the half-Haitian, half-Japanese tennis champion, is the star of a new Japanese anime-style advertisement.
The problem? The cartoon Ms. Osaka bears little resemblance to her real, biracial self.
Her skin was unmistakably lightened, and her hair style changed — a depiction that has prompted criticism in Japan, where she has challenged a longstanding sense of cultural and racial homogeneity.
The ad — unveiled this month by Nissin, one of the world’s largest instant-noodle brands — features Ms. Osaka and Kei Nishikori, Japan’s top-ranked male tennis player, in a cartoon drawn by a team commissioned by Nissin. The cartoon was based on the work of Takeshi Konomi, a well-known manga artist whose series “The Prince of Tennis” is popular in Japan.
Ms. Osaka, who faces Elina Svitolina in an Australian Open quarterfinal match on Wednesday, and Mr. Konomi have not publicly commented on the reactions to the ad.
But a Nissin spokesman apologized in an email on Tuesday for “the confusion and discomfort.”
The spokesman, Daisuke Okabayashi, said that the characters had been developed in line with Mr. Konomi’s anime series and that the company had communicated with Ms. Osaka’s representatives.
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An earlier version of this article misstated who drew the anime-style advertisement that featured Naomi Osaka with lighter skin. It was a team that Nissin commissioned, not the manga artist Takeshi Konomi, though the ad was based on Mr. Konomi’s work.
When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at nytnews@nytimes.com.Learn more
Makiko Inoue contributed reporting.
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