Source:
https://scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3014484/japanese-company-cancels-be-white-advertising-campaign-which-it
Asia/ East Asia

Japan’s Kao scraps #BeWhite ad campaign to promote ‘fun’ housework, realising it could be seen as racist

  • The hashtag was a play on the term ‘white companies’ – a Japanese moniker given to companies that treat employees well and encourage work-life balance
  • But the video ad soon got pulled after the company realised the slogan could be seen as racist; it also stirred criticism among Twitter users
Japanese household product company Kao realised its slogan could be seen as racist. Photo: Handout

Japanese household product company Kao had the cleanest of intentions: run a campaign to encourage family members to split household chores more equitably. Instead, the company found itself pulled into a controversy for being racially insensitive over its #BeWhite slogan.

The hashtag Kao went with was a play on the term “white companies”, a Japanese moniker given to companies that treat their employees well and encourage work life balance.

Companies known for long working hours and exploitative working environment are labelled “black companies” in the Japanese language.

Kao used that context to push out a short video on its Twitter account that showed how homes could be more “white”. It surveyed its own employees on how involved they are in chores at home in nation where long working hours often force the burden of housework to women.

But it soon got pulled after the company realised that the slogan could be seen as racist; the ad also spurred criticism among Twitter users. Kao’s shares fell as much as 2.4 per cent in Tokyo on Friday.

“Our intention was to promote shared housework as a fun activity,” Ryota Ogawa, a spokesman for Kao, said by email. “But we suspended the campaign after realising that in English the ‘Be WHITE’ slogan could be interpreted in many ways and therefore lacked sensitivity.”

Kao is not the first Japanese company forced into an embarrassing backflip over racially insensitive marketing. Earlier this year, Japanese ramen-maker Nissin found itself in hot water over an advertisement featuring tennis player Naomi Osaka.

Critics claimed an anime illustration of the half-Japanese, half-Haitian star had been “whitewashed” to include pale skin and European features.

“There is no intention of whitewashing,” a Nissin spokesperson said. “We accept that we are not sensitive enough and will pay more attention to diversity issues in the future.”

In 2016, a commercial for the Chinese laundry brand Qiaobi went viral: it showed a black man whistling and winking at a young Chinese woman, who calls him over, puts a detergent packet into his mouth and forces him headfirst into a washing machine. She sits on the lid while the man shrieks.

Moments later an Asian man emerges in clean clothes, and the woman grins.