Nike Japan ad on teenage bullying and racism sparks debate

Justin McCurry in Tokyo THE GUARDIAN

A video made by Nike Japan that explores bullying and racism using three schoolgirl footballers has sparked praise and outrage online, including calls to boycott the company’s products.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters

A new Nike commercial in Japan has sparked a debate about racism and bullying.

The two-minute film, which was released on Monday, had racked up 14.2m views on Twitter by Wednesday afternoon and more than 63,000 likes. More than 16,000 people had commented. The YouTube version had been viewed almost 10m times.

Some social media users described the commercial as “amazing”, “powerful” and beautiful,” but others were less impressed.

While the film’s message clearly riled members of Japan’s online right – many of whom commented using pseudonyms – more measured critics said it misrepresented modern Japanese society.

“Is Japan really such a country full of discrimination? It feels like you’re creating a false impression of Japan,” said one user quoted by Soranews24.com.

Another wrote: “Nowadays, you often see one or two people of different nationalities going to school perfectly peacefully. The one that’s prejudiced is Nike.”

“Is it so much fun to blame Japan?” another asked.

A scroll through the first 50 or so comments revealed several by people saying they would never buy Nike products again.

Japan is a relatively homogenous society, but the heroics of the country’s multiracial rugby team at last year’s world cup and the success of tennis star Naomi Osaka, who has a Japanese mother and Haitian father, are challenging old ideas about what it means to be Japanese.

The Nike ad, titled The Future Isn’t Waiting, depicts three football-playing teenage girls from different backgrounds: one is Japanese, another is Korean and the third has a black father and Japanese mother.

In one scene, the mixed-race girl is surrounded by a group of classmates who touch her hair.

The Korean girl is shown reading on her smartphone about the “zainichi problem” – a word used to describe ethnically Korean people who are “staying in Japan”.

The Japanese girl, meanwhile, is bullied at school and struggles to cope with parental pressure to achieve academically.

In the end, the three are united by a desire to confront their problems and prove themselves through their love of football.

Osaka, who was named the world’s highest-earning female athlete earlier this year, is celebrated in the country of her birth, but her rise to tennis stardom revealed problematic attitudes in some sections of Japanese society.

An animated ad by one of Osaka’s sponsors, the Cup Noodle maker Nissin, portrayed her with with pale skin, wavy brown hair and Caucasian facial features, while a standup comedy act said she “looked sunburned” and “needed some bleach”.

Nike has not commented on the controversy but said on its website it believed in the ability of sport to transform lives.

“We have long listened to minority voices, supported and spoken for causes that fit our values,” it said. “We believe sports have the power to show what a better world looks like, to bring people together and encourage action in their respective communities.”