Sony’s debut spot for the PS Vita TV features an interracial couple — something that didn’t escape YouTube commenters. Hey, if a mixed-race Cheerios commercial can spark a race debate, you can bet a PS Vita one will too!
Yes, YouTube commenters are usually pretty awful! But there’s more to this story than just YouTube comments. And not every YouTube user sounded like a moron.
Here are some of the better comments on the clip uploaded by IGN.
“I hope there isn’t any controversy of a half white half Japanese family. There shouldn’t be anyways since Sony’s no.1 consumer is America and Sony is home in Japan.”
“it’s youtube brah remember that cheerios commercial with the white chick and the black guy people went ape shit over that lol they’re actors aswell like i don’t get why people get upset but lol it is funny.”
“The couple looks beautiful together.”
Wrote one YouTube user: “why are there white people?” Replied another: “Because white people also live in Japan?”
Then, there were the comments you’ve come to expect on YouTube:
“how stupid do you have to be to advertise a product in Japan by showing an Asian woman with a white male? Don’t they realise a lot of consumers of these are lonely Japanese guys? Facepalm.”
“Am i crazy or is the dad white and not asian?”
“why is there so many Caucasians in a Japanese commercial?”
“ASIAN MEN FOR LIFE. This asian woman is a fcking disgrace for Japan.”
“I thought that was pretty weird that they had a Gweilo for the husband. I was looking at the son and thinking so is he half white? He even has Gweilo friends! I was like WHAT IS THIS!?? It was a good commercial besides that though.”
“why is this a white family….lol is the japanese that white washed …”
Um. Yeah! Japanese site Ocha to Gyuunyuu no Kuukan translated the YouTube comments for Japanese net users to pour over. On 2ch, Japan’s largest online forum, people sounded off on the comments and the ad.
Here is a small sample:
“Sony is a global enterprise, so foreigners using their products in a commercial seems only natural, right?”
“Maybe this commercial is for the West?”
“Man, who cares.”
“She’s not even Japanese.”
“[YouTube’s reaction] is awful discrimination.”
“I don’t care if it’s a white person, a black person, or a dog. It’s just a commercial.”
“Well, white people are more expressive [in commercials].”
“So sick of hearing white people brag. Simply being born white is nothing to be proud of.”
“This isn’t Japan. The room is too damn big.”
“Did Japanese people really make this ad? Was it really made for Japan?”
“This is the typical Asian face that Westerns like so much.”
“Like on the New York City subway, it’s filled with ugly white people and black people. They have a cool image, because you see fit black people and white people in movies and TV shows.”
“In the first place, this isn’t even a Japanese commercial.”
“Is this even a Japanese commercial? The woman isn’t wearing make-up the way Japanese women do.”
“If you think this [couple] is strange, come to Japan and see it for yourself.”
“I have no clue why they’re getting so worked up over this meaningless thing.”
“From the point of view of Japanese, foreigners are the same as dogs.”
“This can’t be helped. Japanese people worship white people.”
“After all, white people are brutish animals.”
“Total display of the Japanese inferiority complex hahahahaha.”
“Japanese are not a race of people.”
“I think a Japanese husband plus a white wife is better.”
“They’ve misunderstood this as an ad aimed at Japan, no?”
“I thought this was a Microsoft Japan ad.”
On Japanese TV, the non-Japanese you typically see are celebrities, cashing in abroad by selling things. There are a few local non-Japanese celebrities, who appear in commercials, and speak Japanese. They’re not always the “kooky foreigner,” and some of them are quite well-known in their own right. Then, there are the foreigners who appear in commercials either as window dressing or to reinforce a certain stereotype that exists in Japan about outsiders.
The PS Vita TV isn’t announced yet for North America or Europe, and while the house featured in the commercial looks big, it certainly could be a house in Japan (there are big houses and huge apartments here!). What’s more, there are interracial couples (hello!), and the commercial simply reflects that. In a way, Sony itself is proof positive of that.
「日本のCMなのに夫が白人ってのはおかしくないか？」PS VitaのCMに外国人が疑問 [2ch matome]
「日本のCMなのに夫が白人ってのはおかしくないか？」 PS VitaのCMに外国人が疑問 [Taoyame]
日本のCMなのに 夫が白人で 妻がアジア人ってのはおかしくないか？ [2ch]
Comments
17 responses to “Sony’s Interracial Ad Sure Brought Out The Idiots”
How is this kind of thing even still an issue? People are jerks, man.
Don’t read the comments
Youtube comments are for 2 things –
1) reading for lulz at the idiocy of people online
2) loosing braincells…. usually also a result from no.1
Everyone should install this plugin:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/herp-derp-for-youtube/ioomnmgjblnnolpdgdhebainmfbipjoh
I’ll admit “This isn’t Japan, the room is too damn big” made me laugh.
Ahhh the Japanese, still showing their disdain of anything out of their “norm”
That chick is hot. I would game with her anytime.
The end.
Japan – the world’s largest bubble, still largely chequered with prehistoric racist attitudes and an undercurrent of inferiority complex to stir it up.
Derp. Yeah, like there’s nowhere else on the planet like that…
I’m a aussie guy with an asian wife and half asian kids. I’ll have to ask my friends if they have some kind of raging internal monolog every time they see me kicking around the house with the family…
Now I really want an advertisement with dogs playing a vita
First off, the top two comment blocks are by Westerners, NOT JAPANESE. “Gweilo” is Chinese for foreigners. I’m usually the first to bag out Japanese xenophobia but some of the comments above misunderstood the article.
Secondly, the (westerner) youtube comments are completely ridiculous, this commercial isn’t in “Japan” and it’s certainly not for a Japanese market. This is a product advertisement for the international western market. You would never see an ad like this in Japan. I have no doubt this is made in America, for westerners.
exactly. She is not even Japanese and that house is not in Japan, so the Japanese can rest easy. Either way, nothing to get worked up about. And I’m sure the rest of asia is more “white washed” than Japan. Most youtube commenters dont deserve to be alive I think.
“Hey, if a mixed-race Cheerios commercial can spark a race debate, you can bet a PS Vita one will too!”
You’re kidding right? Have you looked around and seen what causes a gender debate?
That Cheerios ad was cute as fuck. I’m still mad that it stirred gender debate.
Asian males and Black women lose in mix race relationship scenerios. When you see mix pairings it’s usually, White male with Asian female or Black male with White female. Sometimes Asian male with White female or White male with Black female. Also you may see a Black male with Asian female. But I have NEVER in my life seen an asian male with a black female. For some reason the chemistry doesn’t seem to be there,
Not trying to start anything, just making an observation.
Err… What the fuck is Interracial about that advertisement? I don’t see people of different races in a relationship… I can see that there are people who appear to come from different cultural backgrounds. But they also appear to be the same race, Human.
Not sure if you are trying to criticise the culturally insensitive comments of youtube posters, something which seems rather redundant anyway, but you actually appear to be facilitating the idea of race and the ‘other’ with the way you present it.
Just saying…