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Vivian's video clips in the Japanese TV have been scientifically investigated
in a German Institute of Japanology.
A member of the
research group, Mrs. Griseldis Kirsch, has written her thesis about
Die
Darstellung nicht-japanischer Figuren in der japanischen Fernsehwerbung
(The representation of non-Japanese characters in the Japanese TV
commercials)
The thesis was finished in 2000/2001 and
Mrs. Kirsch is currently working on her dissertation in the Institute of Japanology/University of
Trier/Germany. I found her thesis in the Internet. She describes (with the help of four selected Japanese CM spots) that, in case
a little eroticism is used for a CM, mainly actresses with "white" skin are preferred and that Asian but non-Japanese characters are generally
acting in their native behaviour and fully clothed in traditional costumes without any erotic touch. But
Mrs. Kirsch found a remarkable exception: Vivian Hsu. I would just give a rough English translation of two short
sections of the German text:
... in a spot of a Japanese car company: There is not only no relation between the use of a Chinese actress and the product being advertised. The spot even
suggests her full integration what of course may be caused by her familiarity and popularity -
since she is the actress and singer Vivian Hsu. There are no exotic
presentations and the actress is playing a role of propellent power and thinking mind - her significant part in the spot, namely to take a member of the Japanese
Olympic crew to the airport just in time and with appropriate clothing, is out
of question.
Even if the actress is a famous [foreign] personality, it is remarkable how much she seems to be integrated into the Japanese society since the spot certainly could also have
been produced with a Japanese "motor". That a non-Japanese Asian star is presented in such a high measure of integrity, can certainly be seen as a positive sign which is not only based on Hsu's
popularity and the currently developing "Asia boom". This spot is quite characterizing a functioning
process of integration, it's relevance is above a debate about Asian globalisation without any
doubt ...
The appendix of the thesis contains
summeries of the used CM clips.
About Vivian's clip Mrs. Kirch writes:
Spot with Vivian Hsu
The Taiwanese actress and singer Vivian Hsu, accompanied by two children, is driving the advertised car
to the house of famous Judoka Tamura Ryoko. Hsu has to pick up Tamura and to take her to the airport so that she can fly to the Summer Oplympics in Sydney. However Tamura is still training with a cartoon figure. Hsu is warning
the sportswoman that she could miss the plane. The cartoon figure magically
makes her dressed with a red skirt and after another warning of Hsu, Tamura is
finally dressed with the proper uniform of the Japanese Olympic team. They all start off and Hsu and the children wish the leaving Tamura "ganbare" (much luck) while an outsized Tamura appears in the background greeting Hsu and the children. On the screen,
technical details of the car and "ganbare, Yawara-chan" (Tamura's nickname) are slotted in.
You can read the
complete German text of the thesis in
Die
Darstellung nicht-japanischer Figuren in der japanischen Fernsehwerbung
Griseldis Kirsch
Institute of
Japanology, University of Trier, Germany
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