Avoiding the 'NG' factor: how do you advertise condoms in Japan?

When you think of Japan, you probably think of fast-paced consumer technology, manga culture, or weird fetishes; a place where anything goes.

But, if you live here, none of that truly represents Japan. None of my friends are building robots or are into manga, fetishes, mascots or maid cafes. I’ve never heard of anyone hiring a rent-a-person, but such services do exist.

[Japan is] a place with a ton of unspoken rules and taboos.

To me, Japan is actually quite the opposite of what people think. It’s a place with a ton of unspoken rules and taboos. You probably wouldn’t even know if you accidentally broke those rules. If you’re lucky, you’d get an ‘NG’, an abbreviation for ‘no good’, or a polite way of being told ‘no fucking way’. 

Above: You may think of Japan as hyper-connected, technology-focussed and a country of 'weird fetishes', but it's a place with many unspoken rules and taboos. 

The interesting thing is that there are no set rules as to what is considered NG, and what is not. There’s no handbook, no tutorials, and it changes all the time. The standard is purely based on what the masses think. It sounds very cliche, but herd mentality is very strong in Japan, especially within the older generation.

A Mitsuya Cider ad was pulled off air because there were scenes which viewers considered dangerous... but, not the type of scenes, you’d imagine.

For instance, a four fingered character is offensive, and considered to be discriminatory towards a minority ethnic group. Any characters in games or on TV have to be adapted to accommodate. For the launch of mobile game Clash of Clans, the character’s four fingered hands all had to be adapted. Even models holding products, a lot of the time, need to show all five fingers. On many seemingly innocent occasions, ads have been deemed offensive and taken down immediately, disappearing without a trace. 

A Mitsuya Cider ad was pulled off air because there were scenes which viewers considered dangerous... but, not the type of scenes, you’d imagine. The ad showed a girl playing a trumpet on a school rooftop as two friends approached her from behind to give a friendly nudge. The video is not available to view anywhere, but a lot has been written about it. The complaints were something along the lines of: “It could be said that surprising someone from behind while they are holding a heavy metal object against their mouth, can lead to mouth injury. As the mouth slams against the thick metal mouthpiece, lips and teeth are damaged. It also then becomes likely that the trumpet... will be dropped and damaged and cause injury to pedestrians passing by.”  

Above: UltraSuperNew's recent campaigns for SKYN have attempted to change the way Japan views the brand. 

At UltraSuperNew, we’ve been working with SKYN condoms since their launch in Japan six years ago, and we’ve experienced a ton of rejection due to the nature of the product. Previous condom advertising has, perhaps unwittingly, created a stigma around buying the product, meaning it’s something to be purchased behind closed doors, certainly not to be discussed out in the open; it's taboo. 

Previous condom advertising has, perhaps unwittingly, created a stigma around buying the product; it's taboo. 

This is probably the same in most Asian cultures, but even more so in Japan. And talking about sex is a big no-no, especially through OOH, newspapers or TVCs. In some locations, the media owner has the right to take down the creative, even if it offended just one person. When we went into production for our first campaign, the production company presented possible locations. We were shocked to see a deck that was two centimetres thick, but only two locations out of the entire deck had given us permission to shoot. After difficulties with location hunting, we were determined to change things.