Selling Beer Challenging Gender in Japanese Beer Advertisements 1950
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
J White Marketing Men, Selling Beer: Challenging Gender in Japanese Advertising Discourse 1950 – 1996 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2018 1 Marketing Men, Selling Beer: Challenging Gender in Japanese Advertising Discourse 1950 – 1996 James White A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Sheffield Faculty of Social Science School of East Asian Studies 2018 2 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from this thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. The right of James White to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1888. © 2017 The University of Sheffield and James White This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council and the White Rose East Asia Centre. Additional support was kindly provided by the Japan Foundation 3 Marketing Men, Selling Beer: Challenging Gender in Japanese Advertising Discourse 1950 – 1996 James White Word Count: 98435 4 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the various people who helped and guided me during this dissertation. A six-month language course at the Japan Foundation Kansai Centre was invaluable for polishing my linguistic abilities Japan and for funding for research trips to seek out materials. I am deeply grateful to the centre’s very patient instructors, Tanaka Tetsuya, Ms Yazawa, Itō, and Ishii, who sought to understand the points raised here in Japanese by reading Judith Butler and other gender theorists. The librarians at the centre provided an introduction to researching in Japan which allowed me to access many of the materials I used here. The Japan Foundation also kindly funded a secondary research trip, through their Study Support Programme which allowed me to further engage with the archive and I must express my gratitude to Julie Anne Robb for her patient understanding and help. Ms Yoshino Yuri and the staff at the Dentsu Advertising Museum’s Library (ADMT), meanwhile, were extremely kind and generous in dealing with my at times impertinent requests for help, including continually refilling the photocopiers and providing access to advertisements and their archives during periods of restricted access. The advice and input of various academics in Japan, meanwhile, was invaluable. Professor Ueda Matsuya, a former copywriter and regular visitor to the Advertising Library, took the unusual step of inquiring about my work and then taking an avid interest, providing insights into the industry. His very kind introduction to the famous copywriter and his personal friend, Akiyama Shō, was invaluable on a personal level. Professor Itō Kimio of 5 Kyoto University introduced me to the Men’s Study Group and the opportunity to present my initial work with various comments by professors Taga Futoshi, Oyama Harahiko, and Otsuka Takao was also useful in providing guidance on masculinity in Japan. SEAS staff at Sheffield were helpful and patient and a wonderful source of knowledge concerning the arcane mysteries of the university. The various Sheffield tutors, including Professor Glenn Hook, were valuable guides and supports during this journey. My supervisor, Dr Mark Pendleton, meanwhile, has been instrumental in this entire process, with his interest in my project crucial to my PhD at Sheffield. His patience with my tortured logic and insistence upon archaic and northern forms of language has been saintly. His advice, especially with regards to how I might best simplify and clarify my writing has been invaluable and I cannot thank him enough. I should also thank my PhD cohort with whom I forged bonds of friendship through mutual suffering as well as the various other students and scholars, such as my classmates at the Kansai Centre, who kindly listened, advised, and engaged in various debates with me. Allari Alarik’s introduction to scrivener was the not the least of these. I am also grateful for the support of friends and family who have helped in small ways, from providing nights of accommodation, introducing me to new beer posters in less than salubrious locations, and merely being there to listen and prop me up. Most of all, however, I must thank my wife, Suzanne Pragg, without whom I could not have done this. Despite my lack of honesty and forthrightness concerning how much work, effort and time a PhD would entail, she has been a steadfast source of support, feigning interest and pushing me to take any comments on my work as constructive. Having a child is not the 6 easiest of endeavours at the best of times, and it becomes more trying when your partner is engaged with a PhD. I would not have been able to embark upon and get to the final stages, without her generosity, encouragement, and support. For you, then, Slufsy. 7 Contents Marketing Men, Selling Beer: Challenging Gender in Japanese Advertising Discourse 1950 – 1996 1 Acknowledgements 5 Contents 8 Images 12 Graphs 13 Abstract 14 Notes 16 Chapter 1: Introduction 17 Signifying Systems, Lacunae, and Influences 18 Girls, Guys, Blokes, and Ladies: Discussing Gendered Images in Advertising 21 Constructing Gender 22 Examining the Advertising Industry 26 Japanese Approaches to Advertising 37 The Choice of Beer: Popularity, Universality, Accessibility 39 Beer in Postwar Japan 42 Chapter 2: Methodology 50 Introduction 50 Studying Advertising: Benefits 51 Theoretical Framework: Lynda Nead’s Modified Discourse 57 Discourse and Sexuality 60 Research materials 65 8 Trustworthiness and Limitations 78 Summary 82 Structure, Discourse and the Beer Industry 84 Five Themes: Bodies, Sport, Families, Stars, Space 84 The "Ballad of Kirin and Dainippon": Dates, Defining Events, and Evolution of the Discourse 87 Chapter 3: If you’re a man, it’s Mozart – Gendering Sport and Music in the Asahi Beer Concerts and Suntory Otoko nara… Campaigns 103 Sponsoring Events: Gendering Beer Through Entertainment 104 Sport: The Crucible of Masculinity 113 Broadening Appeals, Expanding the Market: New Attempts to Target Women and Revisiting Older Models of Masculinity 123 Masculinity: Failed dreams, Accepted Fate, and Enduring the Unendurable… 128 Masculinity as Driver of Consumer Choice 132 Conclusion 137 Chapter 4: Weights and Measures – The Body by Proxy, Measurement, and Regulation 141 Kings and Queens of Beer: The Body Consuming and The Body Critic 143 Campaign Girls/Gals: Representing the Company 154 Campaign Girls’ Bodies: Be Our Proxy 164 Women in Body; Girls In Name 175 Foreign Bodies: Exotic, Exciting, and White 178 Beauty and the Yeast: Designating Women as Bijin 186 Bodies of Consumption 190 Conclusion 195 Chapter 5: Home, Hearth, and Drinks – The Never Constant Family 198 Salarymen, Ribbons, Moustaches and Citron: Constructing the Nuclear Family 201 9 Everything is illustrated: The Family That Consumes Together - Co-opting Soft Drinks and Beer 205 Housewives: Purchasers, but not Consumers 216 3G – or an Intergenerational Family of Corporate Masculinity 227 Fathers & Sons, Daughters and ... : Excising the Wife and Mother from the 1970s Family 235 Foundations and Stoicism: The Family in Genesis 240 Conclusion 246 Chapter 6: Samurai/Hero/Actor/Star – National Myths, Icons, and Referent Systems in Sapporo’s Otoko wa damatte… Campaign 248 Reputations and Realities 251 Contesting and Challenging the Silent 255 Men Are Silent for Some Reason: Hyper and Hegemonic Masculinities, Competition 257 Ivory Towers and Advertising 259 The Masculinity Apex 269 Referent Systems: Selecting which a priori knowledge to use 276 Critiques and Dissent: Garrulous Men, Voluble Women 282 Fears of Militarism and Masculinity 289 Star Power: Age, Gender, and a Backlist. 292 Undermining the Otoko wa damatte… campaign: Price Rises, Protests and Media Messages 302 Conclusion 317 Chapter 7: Frontiers, Downtown, and Halls: Gendering Spaces and Restricting Places320 Mifune's Masculinity: Wild Colonial Boy 322 Asahi Gold: Censoring for Safety 327 The Beer Hall: Site of Sexuality 332 The Beer Hall: Contested, Masculine, Sexualised, and Open to All 341 10 The Beer Hall: Asahi Keg 348 The Beer Hall: A Site of Heterosexual Interaction 352 Chikan: Public Spaces, Buffers, Housewives, and Assault 355 Discussing Chikan: Accepting Assault 361 Heat Relief: Observing Women, Critiquing Women 365 Conclusion 371 Chapter 8: Conclusion - Crafting and Brewing Gender Across the Years 374 Sport and Music 376 The Body 378 Family 382 Mifune 384 Space 387 Valuing the Discourse 389 Windows into the Future 396 Areas for Further Study and Limitations 397 Last Orders, Closing Time, Final Thoughts 399 Appendix: Beer Innovations by Year and Company 402 Bibliography 405 11 Images Image 1: Asahi Beer - Advertising the new factories (1950) _______________________________________ 90 Image 2: Nippon Beer - Advertising the new product (1950) ______________________________________ 90 Image 3: Asahi Beer - Advertising the new logo (1950) __________________________________________ 90 Image 4: Nippon Beer - Advertising the new building and brand (1951) _____________________________ 91 Image 5: Nippon Beer - Information for the housewife on how to handle beer (1954) _________________ 109 Image 6: Asahi Beer - Appealing to the main purchasers, housewives