Japanese airline ANA gets bashed for 'Racist Ad'

Japanese airline ANA (All Nippon Airways) gets bashed by English-language users social media in Japan over a 'racist ad' it released on January 17 (Fri).


It could be too early to judge, considering how the Japanese people express things, sometimes literally, but one thing is for sure - a media department must be fully aware of any possible repercussions, reactions and even racial impacts of any media items to be released for public consumption.

The 30-sec clip of a TV advertisement of ANA featured two Japanese guys looking by the window, apparently of an airport building. They are discussing in English how they can improve the airlines image in the international aviation market.

Their conversation goes - "Let's change the image of Japanese people". "Sure", the other guy said, now wearing a long rubber nose and a clearly different accent.




Some of the reactions towards the commercial ad:

I've just seen the new ANA advert...Really? ANA think this is OK?!

If you are a foreigner and have planned to come to #Japan do not chose an openly racist airline like #ANA ! Watch their Japanese commercial!
— Sibylle Ito (@sibylleito) January 20, 2014

To which, a certain ANA spokeswoman told AFP, they also received calls from customers complaining about the ad.

We apologized to each of the customers for having caused uncomfortable feelings and also thanked them for bringing up the issue

We have passed on the issue to the section in charge of the advertisement, but as of now we have yet to decide how to deal with the commercial (ANA Spokeswoman)

Watch the video HERE. (Source)