Japan, Crazy For Bananas, Gets Crazy Bananaman Commercials
A series of madcap ads for Dole bananas airing in Japan shows a Banana Man who grows CGI bananas out his head and hands and can shoot them at banana-loving bystanders. Why, oh why? The explanation, and more video, inside...
Japanese banana consumption surged last summer, despite high import tariffs, due to the popularity of "The Morning Banana Diet," in which you eat one banana in the morning along with a glass of room temperature water for breakfast. The diet was invented by a housewife to help her overweight husband lose weight, and spread virally through a Japanese online social network, mixi. The Dole campaign, which can be summed up as, "everyone loves bananas and there's this bananman guy who grows them out his body and everyone wants his bananas" (it's important in advertising for your campaign to tell a simple one-sentence story) seems to be an attempt to capitalize on the craze.
Japanese banana consumption surged last summer, despite high import tariffs, due to the popularity of "The Morning Banana Diet," in which you eat one banana in the morning along with a glass of room temperature water for breakfast. The diet was invented by a housewife to help her overweight husband lose weight, and spread virally through a Japanese online social network, mixi. The Dole campaign, which can be summed up as, "everyone loves bananas and there's this bananman guy who grows them out his body and everyone wants his bananas" (it's important in advertising for your campaign to tell a simple one-sentence story) seems to be an attempt to capitalize on the craze.More videos here. [Dole.co.jp]
Japan Goes Bananas for a New Diet [TIME]
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Comments:
Anyone else think that commercial is oddly "suggestive"? I mean, bananas are kind of phalic already, but this made me feel kind of...I dunno...violated?
You should definitely starve yourself for the day and slow down your metabolism in an attempt to simply cut calories. This housewife is a genius.
@WOPDingo:
Nope... you're just thinking too hard.
Sham-WOW
sorry wrong thread....
@WOPDingo: Bananas are the new tentacles.
I'd prefer a weight loss program that isn't associated with a guy who has bananas all over his face.
If only eating banana's could enable me to shoot them out of my nose and/or fly two feet off the ground by flapping them.
And now, to ruin your day:
This man is my new hero.
Shouldn't that be BanaNAman in the title?
@WOPDingo: I don't know... this guy in the park chucking a stack of bananas onto the lap of a crying woman on a bench... Nah... just you... But, I do wonder what she needs all those extra bananas for?
I... what?
@Blinky987:
No where does it say you are supposed to starve your self, you eat a banana and water for breakfast to jump start your metabolism and then eat a normal lunch and dinner.
I may approach a stranger and advise him that I "want his bananas." I'm sure his reaction will be priceless.
@vliam:
Boop boop ba-doop a-doop.
When I was in Japan last year, I noticed quite a bit of banana-related merchandise, primarily centered around a cartoon character named Banao.
[img381.imageshack.us]
@AbsurdHero:
Am I really the first person to mention Arrested Development here?
There's always money in the banana stand.
@VideoOrItDidn'tHappen_GitEmSteveDave: Yes, that. So much for my "courtesy" of just providing a link. :-)
Well, if you like banana appendages and "German" techno, you will love My Hands are Bananas! Sorry but I can't resist!
@VideoOrItDidn'tHappen_GitEmSteveDave: wow, just wow
@ClockOnTheStove: Is this guy legit in Germany? That looks like a HS video class project!
@Rhayader: A good reference, but it won't make YOUR banana stand....
//GOB
If I lived in Japan and saw this commercial, I would go to Dole HQ in Japan, sit outside the gate, and set myself on fire.
Just.... no.
@pb5000: I don't think those people are really Germans.
The accents are TOO stereotyped and the "milky pirate" is clearly drinking out of an American style plastic milk jug.
@TWinter: I couldn't stand more than 10 seconds of it at a time, I probably would have noticed that if I didn't have to shut it off to stop my eyes from bleeding.
there's no japanese word for banana?
@ShikhaJalooner: "Hehehehe...you said 'hard'."
@_catlike_: Yes! That's exactly what I thought! I was thinking to myself, "Great...just what we need: a new genre of Hentai porn."
@Cid29: I'm pretty certain you're actually (usually) supposed to have a decent breakfast, which includes proteins and starches. A banana, while tasty, isn't much in the way of breakfast.
@Wendy Sloan: Just like there's no English word for sushi, miso, or teriyaki?
@WOPDingo: Take a look at the very last scene of the second commercial and keep in mind circumcision is not widely practiced in Japan. ;)
Translations, in case anyone's wondering...
Video 1:
When it comes to bananas, it's all about Dole Man
It might be pushy, but I've decided
I want to cheer you and your girlfriend up
So I grow bananas
I am Dole Man
Video 2:
Girl: We've been going out for three years now...
Man: This is good.
Girl: Why are you eating a banana?
Man: Oh, sorry.
Girl: It's about time we...
Man: This is good.
Girl: Why are you eating a banana?
Man: Sorry.
Girl: We've been going out for three years, it's about time we...
Man: This is good.
Girl: Are you even listening to me?
Announcer: How about a banana?
dibs on the delectable bananastache!
@Cid29: Except you could do this without being a total moron by simply scaling back calories, cutting out a significant portion of carbohydrates since people usually have way too many carbs in their meals, and eating 3-5 properly portioned meals.
Or you could believe in the power of banana and water. I guess that works too according to Mrs. Housewife, PhD.
@nakedscience:
I agree 100%, on a side note i think i found a way to make my money in the stock market back.
1. Buy stock in company X
2. Claim eating their product for a week caused me to lose 20 lbs.
3. Watch idiots buy product and stock soar.
4. Profit
Japanese Kikkoman is a superior anthropomorphic mascot.
Show Me Shoyu
First thing I thought of:
Eric's apparently grown up.. and become Japanese.
@Liam Kinkaid: different languages have a word for banana. I'm surprised that for a language as old as Japanese, they don't have a word for a friggin fruit that grows a few countries away.
@docrice: Mr. Bananagrabber.
Michael Bluth: "I guess it would just be a guy who, you know, grabs bananas and runs. Or a banana that grabs things. I don't know. Why would a banana grab another banana? I mean those are the kind of questions I don't want to answer.
Broccoman now has some competition.
@WOPDingo: They're schwingaliscious!
Is the whipped cream topping expected, or á la cart?
Looks like Meatwad's pet Handbanana is on the loose!
@Wendy Sloan: Sure: "banana". :)
@Wendy Sloan: it's not like banana is an english word. the japanese words for many foods, like the english words for many foods, are taken from or the same as the words in the country/language of origin.
japanese word for croquette is pronounced the same way the french do, because it's a french food. .... same as in english.
and they pronounce the word for coffee close to the same as it's pronounced pretty much everywhere else.
its so awesome I'm speechless
@pb5000: When I say "German" I mean [finger quotes] German.
@WOPDingo: I don't think it's new: Slightly NSFW
I wish I could stand on a soapbox and defend my peoples with a long talk about cultural relativsm blablabla... but seriously, Japanese commercials never make any damn sense.