Japanese “Fat Shaming” Manga Stirs Controversy, Causing 1000’s To Sign Online Petition

Japan has done it again. But this time it isn’t some “exaggerated” outrage that we’re used to seeing in the west where SJW’s are prevalent.

Nope, this time around – this body shaming controversy started in the East Asian community itself.

Here’s how it started.

I mostly signed up for YT Premium because I couldn’t take the annoying bodyshaming ads in front of videos anymore 🤢 They have shrill voices and are just disgusting. https://t.co/bKbUe1sKUi

— まれえん (Madeleine) (@maleencherie) August 3, 2020

On YouTube in Japan, ads started popping up for a Japanese manga with questionable content.

Within the ads and the content itself, is scenes that are blatantly body shaming people into buying their products.

You can think of it as an advert that says “if you don’t buy our products, you’ll be fat and ugly for the rest of your life”.

This is the kind of context being portrayed here.

When Japanese Twitter went nuts, Aoi Murata, a design student in Japan had plenty to say.

QUOTE:

“The first emotion that I had when I began to notice these sorts of advertisements was disgust. To me, it is simply wrong to sell products by making people feel as if they are losers.”

Aoi Murata has gone on to start a petition, hoping to reach 35,000 signatures.

Some of the videos were taken down after she sent them to Google, YouTube’s parent company.

Some videos still remain though.

The website: This Week In Asia went on to say this about the content:

“The adverts in question can often be found attached to YouTube content in Japan and typically take the form of a short story presented as a manga with straplines such as “That double chin and fat belly is disgusting,” or “How can a person with so much acne get a girlfriend?”.

They all end the same way, with the central character – and proxy for the customer – emerging slender and beautiful after using the advertiser’s products.”

This is one of the videos to illustrate the type of content being promoted, which has been criticized for fat shaming.

Aoi Murata also went on to say:

“For me, a person with an eating disorder, these ads are toxic,” said one poster. “And it is terrible that we live in a world where such advertising makes healthy young women ill.”

News source: https://www.scmp.com/

 

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