Japanese Red Cross under fire for using "overly sexualized" manga character in blood drive poster

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/22/japanese-red-cross-under-fire.html

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I’m more offended that the Red Cross over there couldn’t find a nicer illustration or at least from a much more popular series/property to be honest hahaha. I mean I heard before that japan had issues finding young men to donate blood but it should probably be drawn through the arm and not through a massive nosebleed.

For example the Cells At Work promotion was a really good choice for them even though it’s a bit on the nose

https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2019/02/18-1/red-cross-japan-launches-new-collaboration-campaign-with-cells-at-work-for-blood-donation

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If they’re going to use a busty manga character to advertise a blood drive, why not add in the standard “nosebleed” effect? That might at least have been funny instead of simply oversexed.

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I am going to say this with the complete and utter respect and honor to the Japanese people:

The Japanese Culture is so very different from American culture. This is a good thing. They have different opinions about stuff.

If you are a Japanese person, in Japan, then you have every option to be offended (or not) by this, and I value your opinions on the subject.

If you are not a Japanese person, then I don’t give two flips about your opinion regarding this and I don’t care how outraged you are; please keep your stupid mouth shut. You don’t get to imperialistically impose your moral compass on a different culture over something so mind boggling stupid as a cartoon character on a poster. Opening your fool mouth only shows your ignorance in this regard.

Thank you,

A fellow Non-Japanese person

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OMG! A BUSTY LADY…
nosebleed
Please donate blood today.

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It’s her single fang that irks me.

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For some reason in anime, hair and teeth are often asymmetrical…

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The part about how the Red Cross is marketing to otaku because they don’t have sex is pretty hilarious.

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Fuck the patriarchy; no matter the color or location.

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Well shit - now I’m going to have to apologize to the Taliban…

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As ever, with marketing like this, the complaints merely serve to bring more attention to the original campaign.

Also- go and give blood. If enough people did so on a regular basis, there wouldn’t be the need for marketing it.

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Mod Note: Whether or not you consider this a “big deal”, suggesting that the sexualization of women is not something one needs to be concerned with is a great way to 1) display misogynistic leaning, and 2) have your posts or account rapidly eaten.

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okayjlaw

11th-doc-this|nullxnull

I mean, they are just trying to have their own culture, so who cares if they abuse their women… I mean, it’s THEIR women, so we shouldn’t be so concerned with it… /s

There we go. That’s a message I can get behind!

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Yeah, I can’t get behind the idea that I shouldn’t care or even have an opinion if I’m not the person being directly negatively affected by an antisocial behavior; that’s how White privilege and the resulting fragility it perpetrates has become so deeply entrenched in this country.

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Did you happen to watch the video?

Yuta’s information on Japanese opinions is very comprehensive. This isn’t about imperialism at all.

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I think some people here are just sick of hearing us women yammering on about things that don’t matter… /s

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I do think that the poster is not appropriate. I don’t mind that the character has big breasts but definitely the way the image was put together nudges the viewer to gaze on the girl, and this being primarily a way to entice single male gamers will make it biased and the potential for it being problematic will be higher. The guy in the video does show other examples that were perfectly innocent but getting to the particular poster in the discussion was an inevitable conclusion.

Additionally, him putting up the numbers showing that more men donate blood than women fails to raise the question of why isn’t the red cross doing more to bring more women to donate? And if there’s more restrictions that prevent women from donating then are those restrictions fair? Should the red cross be doing more on their end to screen the blood for STDs better instead of turning away willing donors?

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And yet, you need to make sure your virtuous opinion was shared here because folks should care that you don’t care?

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I’m just surprised nobody has caught the typo in the Romaji transliteration: Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! (宇崎ちゃんは遊びたい)

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