Comments on: Japanese cat food commercials

Japanese cat food commercials

needled — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 18:59:08 -0800

Japanese cat food commercials: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

By: dog food sugar

dog food sugar — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 19:23:13 -0800

Oh my goodness. This is wonderful silly fun! Thanks needled.

By: pazazygeek

pazazygeek — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 19:33:37 -0800

What are they saying in the 5th one, where the sad cat sits in front of the fan? That's my favorite, by the way.

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 19:38:14 -0800

They're like live action versions of What's Michael?

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 19:51:11 -0800

Number 7 is just ... oh man, that could easily replace any number of drugs.

By: Maias

Maias — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:02:51 -0800

Ok, so why are Japanese cats so mellow? In the last one, they are acting a bit more like normal cats, but the others (like that previous post about Japanese cats) are so chilled out it's a bit scary.

By: dunkadunc

dunkadunc — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:07:07 -0800

It's because they're stuffed.

By: HotToddy

HotToddy — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:54:32 -0800

Another vote for Number 7!

By: defenestration

defenestration — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:02:39 -0800

Love it.

By: idiopath

idiopath — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:30:37 -0800

I laughed so much at the seventh one, very you-tube-a-licous. Do american cat foods advertise using LOLcat and youtube style goofyness? If not, why not? It seems to be exactly what would get the attention of cat lovers.

By: woodblock100

woodblock100 — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:44:10 -0800

What are they saying in the 5th one, where the sad cat sits in front of the fan? Hah! I haven't the slightest idea! It's supposed to be a 'voice over' of a letter sent by an elderly woman in the country. Somebody with a lot more experience of country dialects that I have could presumably make sense of it. (Hey, I've only been here around 28 years ...) But you know, I'd bet that if I were listening to something like this from my (long gone) grandmother from Yorkshire, I probably wouldn't understand a word of that, either!

By: krinklyfig

krinklyfig — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:19:32 -0800

Do american cat foods advertise using LOLcat and youtube style goofyness? If not, why not? Unfortunately, no. I remember reading that MTV switched to half-hour "lifestyle" programming when they figured out they could sell more advertising by holding the audience for longer than a music video, and therefore show them more advertisements. So, the supposed diversity of programming cable was supposed to bring about is swallowed by the quest for the largest market share and advertising dollars in so many cases. That last video was great, but I think a lot of companies which advertise in the US and the ad firms they hire here would see that as wasted time not selling the product. There is some creative advertising in the US, but rarely does it stray far from being a pure sales pitch, and it never goes on that long. Time-shifting may change advertising in interesting ways, though I have a feeling it will be more about product placement.

By: Del Far

Del Far — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:30:45 -0800

I love the hospital one, but they were all great pieces of art, so deep, so moving, I laughed, I cried, I wondered if any of the american videos of cats were notified at all in the 7th one, or will it be more of a Mr.Clean ala the Simpson.

By: netbros

netbros — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:59:22 -0800

Cats aren't clean, they're just covered with cat spit.

By: Marisa Stole the Precious Thing

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:05:41 -0800

I think he meant Mista Spakkalu. He banishes dirt to the land of wind and ghosts.

By: armage

armage — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:44:41 -0800

What are they saying in the 5th one, where the sad cat sits in front of the fan? Basically a letter from some mother to her son/daughter who's left the countryside -- "save your money", "be sure to eat well", "come home and visit sometime", "I'm sending along some junkan [the name of the product]", "there are plenty of good places here in the country" that sort of thing. The last bit by the announcer plays off that by saying that they only use the best parts of the tuna (maguro) in their cat food. (It's Christmas, I'm at work, and I'm bored. Can you tell?)

By: louche mustachio

louche mustachio — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 03:33:53 -0800

The cat riding in the rocking fish in the second commercial is cracking me up so hard. One thing I love about these is that the cats are put in human situations, but there is no attempt to make them act human, via digital manipulation (it bums me out a bit when, via the magic of CGI, animals are made to "talk.") or otherwise. They just act like cats. Which is so great I could just plotz from the cute. Cats are the best.

By: DarkForest

DarkForest — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 05:10:17 -0800

Number 7 was not originally a commercial. It was just a compilation of cat clips from one of those funny home video shows.

By: needled

needled — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 05:57:33 -0800

More of the cat from Number 5. Also, some ads from Recruit featuring a travel-loving cat: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

By: Phire

Phire — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 07:33:05 -0800

OMGlee! Sorry. But they're just so adorable. And I'm a cat person. Far too much of one. Sigh. They're so cute. How could you NOT love them??

By: kaspen

kaspen — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 11:04:43 -0800

Maguro! Only the finest parts of the tuna! Oh to be a domestic animal in a sushi-loving country...

By: fuzzypantalones

fuzzypantalones — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 16:11:32 -0800

i can't decide if those commercials need more domokun, or bjork.

By: misozaki

misozaki — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 00:39:19 -0800

I loooove those Jaran commercials! Whenever I see one of them, I end up singing the jingle all day. Lan lan, Jaran! "Jaran" is the name of the travel guide magazine Recruit publishes, and they also have a website. Free downloads of screensavers and wallpapers of Nyaran, the cat featured in the Jaran commercials!

By: quin

quin — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 08:23:53 -0800

Marisa Stole the Precious Thing : Number 7 is just ... oh man, that could easily replace any number of drugs. In an effort to test this, I've just ingested a small amount of the advertised product and watched the linked video. Thus far I still don't have anything significant to report, though I am noticing that my breath smells like cat food. and I have a vague yet growing urge to chase after a bottle cap I see on the floor and then sleep for 20 hours. In other words, I'd have to say that, all in all, I'm feeling pretty normal.

By: needled

needled — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 11:06:30 -0800

thanks misozaki for the Jaran links! i crack up every time i see nyaran's little suitcase attached to his collar.