The new Prime Minister took office in Japan last month. He was the most unpopular candidate early this year but now boasts a high approval rate of more than 70%. I think this is a good example to explain the power of an advertisement and how easily people’s impression is manipulated by it. One of the secrets behind his popularity is a fiction made up by advertising agents: he was born to a poor farm family and attended university while working. This is a story which lies and truths are mixed in.
The truth is, his family is a farmer wealthy enough to send three children to private universities (it’s judged to be quite wealthy according to Japanese standards). And also, he could be said to be a hereditary politician, because his father served as a town councilor. Don’t worry. I’m not revealing his scandal. All the above information can be obtained on the Internet.
This is my conjecture. The previous Prime Minister and other candidates, all of them are hereditary politicians. People have a deep antipathy for such politicians these days, believing they can’t understand the needs of common people. In order to differentiate him significantly, his advertising agents may have made up this fiction: he is a man of the people. Unfortunately, the public seemed to be successfully manipulated.
Today’s topic may sound like about politics, but it’s not. This is about illusions made by many advertisements: smart ad-copies, gorgeous images, well-produced videos, etc. that we can’t afford (I’m too embarrassed to write, though). Like Morpheus said to Neo, this is your last chance. Let’s take the red pill and go see how deep the rabbit-hole goes!
Shungo Ijima
He is travelling around the world. His passion is to explain Japan to the world, from the unique viewpoint accumulated through his career: overseas posting, MBA holder, former official of the Ministry of Finance.