This was the first logo that caused confusion in me. Approximately four years ago, I remember seeing a television-program introducing popular symbols used in knee-high socks and it introduced the Playboy Bunny as one of them. It continued to show images of young girls wearing them to school and I could not help but wonder if any of them actually knew what they were actually wearing. My question was quickly answered when a schoolgirl replied to the interviewers question to why she likes this symbol by saying that she loves bunnies and thought that the design was very cute.
This comment describes perfectly what the Playboy logo means to the majority of Japanese: a bunny with a neck bow. No more, no less. This leads to the conclusion that Japanese use many foreign logos and symbols purely based on their visual appearance and do not really put much thought into what they might represent. Also, as the writers from the blog ‘Down the Line’ observe, “in Japan the logo is simply another American emblem or logo that spells out “Cool” or “kakkoii” (“Stuff Japanese”).
Another reason why the Playboy logo is worn so lightheartedly might be due to Japan in general being rather liberal towards pornographic material. When gravure idols can be as young as 12 and convenient store’s magazine shelves are full of extremely graphic adult magazines, it is quite hard to actually think up a reason why anyone would actually care about the origins of a wee little rabbit.
Picture from "Down the Line"
Works Cited
- Down the Line. Stuff Japanese People Like #3. October 20th 2009.
<http://tylerandalyssa.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/stuff-japanese-people-like-3/>
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti