Japanese 宣伝 (senden, advertisements) can seem messy and overwhelming. Internet ads are chaotic, television commercials can seem downright bizarre and anyone who rides a train has seen posters with floating heads, dense kanji and a blizzard of exclamation points.
As with any advanced capitalist society, however, the art of コピーライティング (办辞辫ī谤补颈迟颈苍驳耻, copywriting) in Japan has been exhaustively studied. The visual noise on billboards and screens is intentional, designed to maximize engagement and 広告費用対効果, kōkoku hiyōtai kōka) — the return on ad spend (ROAS). Japanese advertising attracts attention through a mix of subtle and overt methods. Broadly speaking, these techniques aim to 好奇心を刺激する (kōkishin o shigeki suru, stimulate curiosity), 利点を強調する (riten o kyōchō suru, to highlight benefits) and 緊急性を訴える (kinkyūsei o uttaeru, to create urgency).
Copywriters for print and digital media are often taught to begin with these three principles. 好奇心を刺激する means grabbing attention with catchy language, visuals or ideas. A familiar example is Uniqlo’s “Life と Wear” (life to wear, life and wear) campaign, paired with the subhead ふだん着の日が、人生になる (Fudangi no hi ga, jinsei ni naru, Ordinary clothes days are what make up a life). Large English lettering functions as a stylistic hook, while the Japanese tagline plays on the grammatical structure ?になる (~ni naru, to become~). Ending a sentence with になるlends a sense of decisiveness and gravitas, a structure often found in film, television and literature. Here, it elevates ふだん着 (fudangi, everyday wear) into something more grand.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.