What do American celebrities do when they need a quick couple million dollars? Well they go to Japan and make a commercial of course! For some decades now, American celebrities have been able to fly to Japan pump out a few commercials, maybe some print ads, earn a ridiculously large paycheck and go home where no one is the wiser. Generally the celebrities have gone to lengths to keep these commercials from hitting American homes since they are usually weird and embarrassing. Unfortunately for the celebrities, with the advent of the internet and video sharing websites it’s just as easy to view these commercials anywhere as it is in Japan.
A set of commercials that have recently proven to be quite successful with the Japanese public were produced with Tommy Lee Jones as the star. I first became aware of these commercials by a conversation with my friend. It went something like this:
Friend: “Do you like Tommy Lee Jones?”
Me: “I suppose, but I haven’t seen him do much recently, why?”
Friend: “Oh, he made commercials here, I really like them, he pretends to be Japanese I bet it was difficult for him.”
Me: “….Well he is an actor and that is his job – to pretend to be someone else.”
I honestly didn’t think about that again until I returned home to American. Then one day as I was surfing YouTube what should come up but Tommy Lee Jones’ set of Japanese commercials? I was surprised to find there were so many in the series, I found about 11 or 12 online, and they all follow the same basic plot. In the commercials Tommy Lee Jones is living like an average Japanese person, usually performing some mundane job like mover or airport inspector, and sometimes bizarre things happen – for example Tommy’s face may turn into a demon face. However the really odd part is Tommy is an alien, who took the form of Tommy Lee Jones and is surveying the earth.
It’s not until the very end of the commercial that you even learn what is being marketed. Which it turns out is canned coffee in a multi-colored can from coffee company Suntory Boss Coffee. Now I saw Boss coffee everywhere, you can’t walk 2 blocks without running into a Boss brand vending machine in Japan, so it really is a common product that everyone has been exposed to already. I’ll discuss this more at the end of this entry.
Since there are so many commercials, and they all have the same basic theme, I will discuss just a couple here specifically. First we’ll take a look at Tommy’s first commercial where he is eating at a restaurant.
A rough translation of what is happening in this particular commercial is the setting is a Gyudon (Stewed beef over rice in a bowl) fast food restaurant. This type of fast food joint is very common in Japan and open 24 hours a day. It’s popular with the salary men and laborers, but families also eat there, because it is very inexpensive (cheaper then McDonalds) and very filling. Anyhow, the two men sitting and chatting at the counter are saying that there are aliens on earth, and they are probably disguised as Tommy Lee Jones. But for some reason they don’t notice the alien Tommy sitting just a few seats over from them. As he is leaving, Tommy makes an inner monologue about how the beings on this planet are stupid, but the sunsets are very beautiful. He then holds up the can of Boss coffee and takes a loud gulp. Then we hear the name of the product and brand. “Boss Coffee, Rainbow Mountain”
Next is commercial number 7, in which alien Tommy is working in a Host Club. Host clubs are an entirely Japanese invention. What happens at a Host Club is a woman, or group of women, go to the club and pick out a host from the pictures displayed in the front. The chosen host then sits with the woman, complements her – treats her like a princess, and tries to get her to buy as much overpriced alcohol as possible. The host has to drink a lot to encourage her to drink more, and may have to vomit a few times during the evening so he can continue to drink. Host clubs are not sexual, but the average cost for a night at the club costs about 2000$. Perhaps you wonder why a Japanese woman would shell out 2000$ to get complimented by an over-the-top host type, but the simple answer is Japanese men are terrible at treating their girlfriend in an affectionate manner.
Well this girl in the commercial has chosen alien Tommy as her host, and is rather disappointed. She looks on at the number one host and exclaims how cool he is, then she turns back to Tommy and calls him un-cool and begins to complain about him. He breaks her spoon with his alien mind powers. At the end Tommy exits the Host Club and has had a host makeover, complete with fake carrot tan and huge teased hairdo. After he compliments earth’s tanning salons he takes the gulp of coffee and we hear the voice over again. “Boss Coffee, Rainbow Mountain.”
While I cannot say for sure if these series of commercials, aired over the course of a year, have increased the sales of Boss coffee Rainbow Mountain blend, but the commercials themselves have been quite popular. The simple plot of Tommy living and doing “typical” Japanese activities is apparently very appealing the Japanese public. Watching a foreigner trying to do Japanese tasks is always a source of entertainment for the Japanese, and what could be better then watching a celebrity do the tasks in the comfort of your own home. And what could be more foreign then an alien disguised as Tommy Lee Jones? As the commercials have become more and more popular, more and more billboards and large scale print advertisements have been produced. You can easily see Tommy’s gigantic visage staring down at you as you are walking Tokyo’s streets.
Not all American celebrities’ Japanese commercials have been as popular as Tommy Lee Jones’ but it’s always going to be a hit in Japan if it features a foreign star. So why not surf onto a video sharing site and search for your favorite celebrity with “Japanese commercial” and see what turns up?
2 comments:
Fantastic post. It's sad to see Tommy Lee Jones in that context. He reminds me of Bill Murray's character in the movie Lost in Translation. He's does the same thing, he hits up Japan for a big pay day when his career isn't as prolific back in the states as it once was. It's pretty pathetic, but I guess, if he really needs the money, why not?
First off, good post. I really enjoyed reading it. With cases like these I see the media looking down on it because celebrities are going over to another country to do commercials, films, etc, but it is also possible that they are doing it for a change. Who knows? Maybe this is Tommy Lee's midlife crisis. After doing something for so long, we all get sick of that certain activity. Following that, we search for something new, fresh, and maybe even foreign. With that said, I think there is more than one way to look at this subject. I'm not trying to bring down the quality of your post or anything, I'm just taking what has already been said and looking at it in a new perspective. Good work.
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