Branding Odity

It might seem like an odd point to think about, but there's something strangely different with the way Japanese brand their products compared to the way it's done in the west. I hadn't fully realised it until I came back to England, but now it's blatantly clear and points out a cultural difference I'd never thought about before. Look at the products in any pharmacy, haircare aisle, or even the back of a cereal box, and they're often plastered with photos of people sporting the hair colour or enjoying the cereal in question. We're not supposed to know these people, but for some reason we're supposed to identify with them. "They seem to be enjoying this cereal, maybe I will too!"

Conversely, photos of actual people are rarely used on such products in Japan. Instead, characterisations are used either as some anime-style person or simple representation. Looking at the various medicines available at the pharmacy and you'll often see cute little characters transitioning from looking ill or run down to feeling all better again! Even the hair products sport character representations with the appropriate hair colour/effect, rather than photos. This might seem weird for those who have gotten used to our form of branding, but here are a few points worth considering:

• I really don't want to have to stare at often ugly people on the back of my cereal box every morning, or on any product I have to keep around the house for that matter.
• Characters can be made to look exactly how the creator intends and so they will always suit the situation.
• What's more, they'll never be ugly, unless that's the intention.
• Anime looks cool.

Anime characters may represent human figures, but they're different enough that we can accept the abstraction between them and ourselves, while maintaining an amount of identification. I suspect there is a deeper cultural reason as to why the Japanese prefer cute characters over real people, but I wasn't raised in Japan and I have to say that after coming back to England, I prefer the characters.