Precisely why it’s so important for Japanese famous people

[MY BLOG]

Even though you can’t understand what’s being said on Japanese TV, it’s difficult to miss the truth that nearly every TV place and, for that matter, a good chunk of print ads, feature Japanese celebrities shucking various products.



In order to the Western vision, this can be a little confusing. Sure, sometimes commercials in English-speaking nations will fall back again on (mostly) has-been stars to give credibility to this or that used car dealership or diet product, but nearly all of time Traditional western commercials star daily folks. Most surmise this is so the consumer – his/herself most likely an everyman/woman – feels an psychological connection with the advertisement.

However, Japanese ad agencies hire TV and movie superstars much, otherwise most, of the time. So prevalent is the practice that Western stars aren’t above traveling to Japan "Lost in Translation"-style for a week or so of juggling live humans and yelling broken-English catchphrases for a round of Japanese advertising ending in a big payday.

Just as there are good reasons Traditional western advertising use daily folks, there are good reasons they don’t use superstars: for one, if the star him/herself isn’t extremely famous and trusted, there’s a chance that celeb’s presence in the commercial could have the contrary of the desired effect. Would you trust, say, a loan agency repped by a madly twerking Miley Cyrus? On the other hand, many superstars are reluctant to do TV adverts for fear of being of a reflectivity of the gold product.

So, why is Japan so quick to trust celebrity-endorsed products? Japanese blog site Madame Riri weighed in recently, reasoning – through interview with a foreign Asia expert – that the Japanese are more likely to look to others for advice – especially from people they know and trust, or at minimum perceive themselves to know and trust.

This even creates a weird spin out of control where the more commercials a person appears in, the more famous they become. Commercial looks are almost a requirement to becoming a household name in Japan. There’s much speculation this is the very reason Hollywood’s most recent go-to Japanese star, Rinko Kikuchi of "Pacific Rim" – that has hardly appeared in Western advertisements – constantly fails to make any waves in Japan despite global fame.

There are certainly pros and cons to each approach, and each approach says a lot about the separate cultures. Certain, the Japanese may look just a little gullible when clamoring for whatever product SMAP is pushing lately. Yet on the other hand, it may say a lot about the standing of Japanese industry that these stars aren’t reluctant to endorse for concern of losing face if a product doesn’t work like it should.

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