From movies to commercials

[Aaron Gerow]

In what might be a sign of the increasing popularity of Japanese films 
at home, one can see a few examples of recent Japanese movies (their 
characters or situations) being used in TV commercials. This is not a 
case of tie-ins, where scenes from the actual movie or the actors are 
used in a commercial for another product at the time the movie is being 
released (thus aiming for mutual benefit). Rather, it is a case of 
commercials taking advantage of audience knowledge of a previous 
Japanese movie to narrate their stories.

Those in Japan may have noticed the Daihatsu Mira commercials with YOU 
playing Yagira Yuya's mother.

http://www.daihatsu.co.jp/showroom/cm/mira_custom/top_01.htm

With YOU playing a mother who is goes off to play on her own, the 
situation is clearly a playful reference to Koreeda's Nobody Knows 
(Dare mo shiranai) and the roles the two played there.

The most recent issue of KineJun reports that Kobayashi Satomi will be 
used in a Pasco commercial playing the same character she did in 
Ogigami Naoko's Kamome Shokudo (Kamome Diner). Ogigami herself directed 
it, using the same diner in Helsinki as the film for the location. It 
will go on air next month.

It is interesting that both of these are independent films, which, 
while successful as independent films, were not major box office 
smashes.

I'm sure there are other examples of TV commercials citing Japanese 
films. Can people think of any?

Aaron Gerow
KineJapan owner

Assistant Professor
Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
Yale University

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