Below you see the new marketing campaign the Cubs came up with to introduce their latest hopeful, Japanese import Kosuke Fukudome.
Cool looking, huh?
One problem though. The Rising Sun Flag image that they used... yeah it's offensive to millions of people. Nice job. Team President and marketing wiz John McDonough's been gone, what, two months and the Cubbies marketing is already effing things up. Glad to see things are getting back to normal on Clark and Addision.
The Rising Sun Flag is the military flag of Japan. It had been used as the ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the war flag of the Imperial Japanese Army until the end of World War II. It is also presently the ensign of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the war flag of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.
This flag is often considered offensive in countries which were victims of Japanese hostility, particularly China, Australia, United States and the Koreas, where it is seen as alarming, nationalistic and hostile. (Wikipedia)
Well, as long as it's only small countries they are offending I guess it's ok.
UPDATE: My man, Don, in Japan, gives us his take on this.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The Chicago Cubs have no problem offending people
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14 comment(s):
you really want to make this into a bigger deal than it is. it is an advertisement not a statement of political belief. the Japanese people are very proud of their culture and flag. i am sure the American flag would offend many people that feel we are imperialistic and fight wars for oil. relax and enjoy FUKUDOME.
how would you feel if the dallas mavericks advertised dirk with a nazi flag?
or how bout if the utah jazz advertised andrei with the USSR flag and with AK-47s? (note: i believe his number is 47 and his initials are ak)
theres a difference between pride in your country and using symbols of militarism, genocide, exploitation.
also quite many Japanese, while proud of their history, will be the first to point out the nation's constitutional guarantee and modern cultural commitment with peace.
plus outside of the US quite a lot of people are offended by the American flag and in those places the American flag isn't really used in advertisements
If you're offended by that you should be shot. Pointless post.
to equate anything with the nazi flag is just an emotional appeal. should using the italian flag be offensive since they helped the nazis more than any other nation?
politicizing a CUBS AD CAMPAIGN doesn't make you a moron or anything. it just demonstrates what a moron you are.
Relax, Francis.
Well, until 2 atom bombs were dropped over the skies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, people that were offended by that flag WERE shot.
I don't know how older members of the VFW or American Legion would feel about seeing that flag, but it's much guaranteed to offend certain segments Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, and maybe Australians. But I don't think they really give a shit about the Cubs anyway.
And considering the Rape of Nanking, Bataan death march, the comfort women, and countless other atrocities, Nippon had enough blood on their hands to justify a comparison with their more famous Axis ally.
to poster above saying it's equivalent to the italian flag: it's not. there are two japanese flags, one with just the red circle, and one with the red circle and rays emanating from it. the latter is the flag of imperial japan, with the rays supposed to represent the beneficence of japan as it spread its influence across asia. if it were just the red circle, then yes, your uninformed opinion would hold.
Much ado about basically nothing. I would be shocked if anyone besides bloggers are "offended" by this image. For a country that sure loves to parade the image of our flag around, it is ironic that some of its citizens would get their panties in a bunch over this.
Given the craptacular diplomatic performance of our current administration could the same not be said of the American Flag?
Hell, that thing is all over the place in MLB.
The particular design is associated with the navy and army and WWII era Japan. It's not quite the same as flying the flag of a modern nation.
Even if you don't feel that this personally offends you, don't you think it's dumb for a franchise to market a player with an image like this? Just as it would be dumb for a team to market John Rocker with an image of the confederate flag in the background? Some people wouldn't mind, but others would. And why risk alienating/offending a significant part of your potential fan base?
"...but it's much guaranteed to offend certain segments Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos, and maybe Australians. But I don't think they really give a shit about the Cubs anyway."
Um, you ever been to Chicago? You think the Cubs have no fans outside of this country?
I teach Social Studies & Politics on the North side of the city in a Korean neighborhood that is filled with Cubs fans.
I personally think that the image isn't that bad, but that's just a retarded comment to make. Maybe I should list a bunch of historical events out of context to make myself sound smart as well.
The comparison to the Nazi Swastika was pretty historically accurate. This is an image that offends more people, like say those of us whose ancestors were persecuted by fascist ethnic nationalist Japan that "bloggers".
I'm not overly offended by it, but it is incredibly stupid - and be prepared for a very negative response on it from Asia.
The comparisons to the nazi swastika are accurate - as Xian said.
And I'm amazed that given the very negative reaction that Golfweek 'enjoyed' over the last week or so over 'Noose-gate' that the Cubs'd go out and do something so stupid.
http://with-malice.com/2008/01/24/cubs-asian-faux-pas/
Yes, the Japanese flag is offensive to some, but so is Old Glory! Maybe we should stop hanging up the red white and blue stripes at the stadiums during playoff time because of the many people who we have murdered over the centuries. I'm sure many Japanese are offended when seeing the stars and stripes because all their ancestors were killed from one of our atomic bombs. If every country who has killed others while flying their flag could no longer use it as their national symbol, the Olympics opening ceremony certainly wouldn't be as colorful.
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