The promotion of public awareness campaigns can be quite a tricky ordeal to run. I, and many others, have seen billboards, internet ads and the like promoting public health, safe driving, political awareness and many other causes. However, we tend to shrug them off, not even sparing them a second glance. This is not to say that they cannot be effective, perhaps working subliminally. However, any effort that can make someone pay more attention to a public awareness campaign will, of course, be highly desired. In that effort, there are plenty of Japanese organisations that use characters from manga series to promote their causes. Considering this, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the uses of manga to promote public awareness.
I can distinctly remember the first time that I heard of a manga being used to promote some kind of public awareness campaign and how interesting I found the concept. It was back around 2010, not too long after I first started to get into anime, when I heard that the characters of K-On!, a 4-koma manga that was adapted into several anime media, were being used to promote the Japanese census in Kyoto. Since then, we have seen other series such as Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha and Sound! Euphonium (originally a light novel rather than a manga) being used to promote the census within Kyoto. While I would love to see statistics of how effective these campaigns were, the fact that manga characters are continually being used seems to indicate that they have been successful enough to continue this cooperation.
The health industry in Japan is a particularly interesting example when it comes to using manga and their characters to promote public awareness campaigns. Around 2016, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare decided to implement health campaigns with famous manga/anime characters to raise awareness of the dangers of communicable diseases. These collaborations include series such as Sailor Moon, Mazinger-Z and Attack on Titan, typically using puns of famous lines and catchphrases.
While these campaigns have traditionally been well-received, that is not to say that there hasn’t been controversy. A particularly notable controversy was seen in 2019 when the Japanese Red Cross paired up with a manga series called “Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out” to promote their new blood drive. However, the image used for the campaign, that of Uzaki Hana in a tight fitting waitress outfit and a “hungry expression”, prompted backlash on social media on whether it was appropriate for the Japanese Red Cross to use such an image. Interestingly, despite the backlash on social media, the campaign proved successful enough that the Japanese Red Cross decided to renew their partnership with Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out the following year.
However, sometimes it’s not simply using manga characters but styles, patterns and logos similar to the manga itself. Earlier in 2021, it began to be noted that several politicians such as Keisuke Mitsumoto, Hirofumi Yoshimura, Makoto Oniki and others were using campaign posters with a similar green and black chequerboard pattern as seen on the main character of Demon Slayer’s clothing with a similar font and circular logo as seen on the cover of the manga series. This was done without the permission of Shueisha, the publisher of the Demon Slayer series, but the question of whether Shueisha can force these politicians to remove these campaign posters is debatable as there are enough gaps in Japanese copyright law that these politicians may be able to get away with these campaigns.
It is clear that the use of manga styles and characters can be an effective way to promote public awareness campaigns when it comes to various issues such as health and politics. However, it’s important to remember that the use of manga and their styles can be misused and abused as seen with the Japanese politicians using the styles, pattern and logos of Demon Slayer. In this situation, it is important that manga fans don’t simply accept these campaigns blindly and, instead observe whether the campaign is being run fairly, with the permission of the manga creators and publishers and is promoting an important message such as in the case of the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare campaigns.
Observe the chequerboard black and green patterns and the circular logo.
I think the use of manga to promote public awareness is very interesting but, as I mentioned before, it can easily be open to abuse by these companies and groups. Let me know your thoughts on the use of manga to promote public awareness, any public awareness campaigns you have come across featuring manga styles or characters, your thoughts on the pros and cons of these campaigns and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!