Fetishizing German Ad “Based on Japanese Culture” Draws Fire Across Asia

Hornbach underwear sniffing ad
Is it Dolce & Gabbana all over again? German company Hornbach's attempt to lampoon a sexual fetish has sparked an online protest across Asia calling for its removal.

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It seems there’s little these days that people in China, South Korea and Japan can agree upon. So it’s refreshing when something happens that brings everyone in these countries together.

But it’s unfortunate when that “something” is prejudice.

German DIY store Hornbach released a commercial recently celebrating “the smell of spring.” In it, a bunch of older men engage in yard work, after which they strip and hand everything they’re wearing to a couple of waiting scientist-types. (One of them has to be gently reminded they want his undies, too.)

After the garments are collected, they’re run on a conveyor belt, where they’re packaged and vacuum-sealed. (If you pause the video around the 27-second mark, you can clearly see the Japanese words 春の匂い (haru no nioi), or “the smell of spring,” written on the side of the conveyor.) The final stop for the clothing is a vending machine in some non-designated “Asian” country, where a woman in business wear that also seems oddly cultural neutral takes a whiff from the bag and nearly passes out from joy. The commercial closes with the words: “This is the Scent of Spring.”

So riecht das Frühjahr | HORNBACH

Der Spot „So riecht das Frühjahr” war Teil unserer ersten, gleichnamigen Frühjahrskampagne und wurde ab dem 15. April durch den Spot zur Nachfolgekampagne ersetzt. Um die entstandene Debatte zum ersten Spot auch nachträglich nicht zu zensieren, wird dieses Video inklusive aller Kommentare noch eine Zeit lang in diesem Kanal abrufbar sein.

The campaign was unveiled on March 15th. As it seeped throughout the Internet, Twitter users in South Korea and China began calling it out as “creepy,” and for mocking Asian culture, and Asian women in particular. The online unrest eventually spread to Japan as well, where it’s started making national news as an example of Western discrimination towards Asian countries.

Gang Song Un, a South Korean living in the German town of Cologne, was upset enough to start a change.org petition. The petition has a goal of 25,000 signatures; as of Monday afternoon US Pacific time, it’s already received over 16,000 signatures, and is adding more every hour.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Gang explained his motivation. In his view, the commercial has two key problems. First, it commits the typical Western faux pas of lumping the distinct countries, cultures and languages of Asia into a single, undifferentiated mass. Such treatment is definitely a problem, and is something that people of Asian heritage deal with constantly in Western countries. (I’m reminded of a Chinese-American friend who was volunteering at an anime convention when some dude came up to the table and shouted, “Konnichi wa!” at her.) Second, it stereotypes and sexualizes Asian women, whose “exotic” looks are already sexualized and objectified by Western culture.

For its part, Hornbach is pushing back, insisting that it made the commercial a non-distinct Asian “fantasy city” in order not to slight any single group. It’s a thin excuse that few people seem to be buying. As Twitter user seu6santse put it:

𝓑𝘢ɛʄʑıʝ on X (formerly Twitter): “アジア人及び女性蔑視と批判されているホルンバッハは指摘した人に対し「アジアではなく架空の都市」だと回答した。あのCMがズルいのは、「架空の都市」はアジアであることを示唆しながらも、そうではないと言い訳する抜け道があることだ。 / X”

アジア人及び女性蔑視と批判されているホルンバッハは指摘した人に対し「アジアではなく架空の都市」だと回答した。あのCMがズルいのは、「架空の都市」はアジアであることを示唆しながらも、そうではないと言い訳する抜け道があることだ。

Hornbach is replying to the people who’ve pointed out its prejudice not just toward Asians, but towards women, that “this isn’t Asia, it’s a fictitious country.” And that’s why this commercial is so dishonest: while saying, “This is Asia,” it’s using “it’s not Asia” as an escape route.

On his own Twitter account, Gang Song Un, who’s tweeting about this issue in three languages, shot back at this interpretation in a Japanese tweet:

요녀석 🎗 on X (formerly Twitter): “ドイツのDIY用品販売店ホルンバッハ(HORNBACH)がアジアの女性に対する人種差別的なCMを作りましたが,実は日本女性を卑下したものであることが明らかになりました。 あるアジアの女性がドイツ人の男性が着ていた汗に濡れた下着を買う自販機に日本語で”春の香り”と書いてありますね。 pic.twitter.com/KTQHf6NZMD / X”

ドイツのDIY用品販売店ホルンバッハ(HORNBACH)がアジアの女性に対する人種差別的なCMを作りましたが,実は日本女性を卑下したものであることが明らかになりました。 あるアジアの女性がドイツ人の男性が着ていた汗に濡れた下着を買う自販機に日本語で”春の香り”と書いてありますね。 pic.twitter.com/KTQHf6NZMD

German DIY store Hornbach made a discriminatory commercial about Asian women, but really, it’s clear they’re humiliating Japanese women. The vending machine from which this woman from somewhere in Asia buys a German man’s clothes that are soaked in sweat has “Smell of Spring” written on it in Japanese.

The practice of selling used clothing – particularly used undergarments – is also a clear reference to what in Japan is called ブルセラ (buru-sera), a contraction of the words “bloomers” and “sailor” (a reference to sailor-suit style school uniforms for young women). There are numerous sites that sell what purport to be used undergarments online. For a number of years, an urban legend circulated in the West that you could even buy used panties from vending machines.

According to HuffPo JP, Hornbach’s creative marketing company insists it wanted to turn this standard image of men buying women’s undergarments on its head by depicting a woman doing the same thing of her own free will. And the company itself hasn’t pulled the campaign, and remains adamant it has nothing to apologize for.

Reading this news, it’s hard not to be reminded of Dolce & Gabbana, which was deluged with criticism last year when it ran an ad in which a Chinese model tried to eat Western food with chopsticks. The video – which also featured “mansplaining” and mock Mandarin accents, as if aiming for prominent wall space in the Discrimination Hall of Shame – was pulled within 24 hours, and the company founders recorded a personal apology.

Why does luxury fashion hate Chinese consumers?

A Dolce & Gabbana ad highlights luxury fashion’s entrenched racism–but the consumer response suggests the world has had enough.

But while Hornbach runs the risk of permanently pissing off all of Asia with the commercial, the fact is that, unlike D&G, it’s a German chain with no presence in Asia whatsoever. So there’s little to no economic risk in remaining defiant unless a good portion of the public in Germany and neighboring countries join the chorus against the company. If online polling is to be believed, that doesn’t seem likely: a poll on Frankfurter Allegmeine shows 60% of respondents don’t believe the ad’s racist.

On the other hand, if the outrage continues to grow, it could escalate into a diplomatic issue, with Japan, South Korea, China and perhaps other countries lodging formal complaints with the German government.

Hornbach should consider that, the more it doubles down, the more it proves its critics’ point: that its only interest in Asia is as a source of derogatory humor, and that the thoughts and feelings of actual Asian people are of no consequence. Regardless of the company or their ad agency’s intentions, that’s racism and discrimination in and of itself.

ドイツ企業のCMが日本人蔑視か。白人男性の使用済み下着をアジア系女性が嗅ぎまくる内容に非難殺到(動画)

CMキャンペーンの即時中止を求めて署名活動に発展。企業側は「多様性を支持している」として白人女性や白人男性バージョンのGIF動画をTwitterで流した。

(JP) Link: Is German Company’s Commercial a Slight Against Japanese? A Flood of Criticism Over Asian Woman Sniffing a White Man’s Used Undergarments

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