One of my favorite work activities is finding answers. With Internet search options getting more intuitive, questions that I receive have gotten harder.
I'm thrilled with the success of one particular query this week.
Mr. Whelan, the history department chair, asked if I could find more information about this picture or other pictures like it.
A little background... This past summer, Mr. Whelan was part of a research group that visited Japan. He saw anti-smoking posters in many of the schools he visited. He took this photo of one of them, and wanted to know if I could find others. Later this month, he is bringing his AP World History students to a special exhibit at the Ringling Museum. The exhibit is titled Deco Japan: Shaping Art and Culture, 1920-1945. The exhibit
“DECO JAPAN” not only provides dramatic examples of the spectacular
craftsmanship and sophisticated design long associated with Japan, it
conveys the complex social and cultural tensions in Japan during the
Taishô and early Shôwa epochs (1912-1945). In these pre-war and war
eras, artists and patrons created a Japanese modernism that signaled
simultaneously the nation’s unique history and its cosmopolitanism. The
vitality of the era is further expressed through the theme of the modern
girl, known in Japan as the modaan gaaru or moga, for short – the emblem of contemporary urban chic that flowered along with the Art Deco style of the 1920s and 1930s.
The pieces include spectacular
examples of metalwork, ceramics, lacquer, glass, wood furniture,
jewelry, textiles, graphic design on paper, painting and woodblock
prints; they range from fine art objects made to impress the public at
national art exhibitions to goods mass produced for the modern home.
Mr. Whelan wants his students to compare the "Westernized" female Japanese smokers of the exhibit with modern anti-smoking images. I'm psyched about the project because I think it ties together themes of media literacy and culture. So of course I'm happy to help him find the images.
Search one: no luck. Search two: no luck. Search eighteen...let's just say my results weren't circling any closer to the answer. I took a risk and called the Japan Information and Culture Center at the US Embassy. The worst they can do is tell me that they can't help me, right? Which they didn't or I wouldn't be writing this post. The staff member was helpful and encouraged me to send the picture along to him.
He soon responded with information about the website of the organization which produced these posters. Mr. Whelan and I had both assumed they were the equivalent of anti-smoking PSA's, but you know what they say about assuming...
The images are part of an anti-youth smoking campaign; however, the images were created by the Tobacco Institute of Japan. What a surprise! This spurred me towards a few JSTOR searches on the history of tobacco in Japan.
It's been years since 10 list time, but here are things I've learned about Japanese Tobacco in the last few days.
-The Japanese government controls tobacco production and distribution. This allows the government to more easily collect taxes and gave them a monopoly that for over a century successfully limited foreign competition.
-In 2000, 53% of adult Japanese men smoked, compared with only 13.7% of women.
-The Japanese Ministry of Finance owns 2/3 of the stock of Japan Tobacco, Inc. Almost every Japan Tobacco, Inc. executive is an amakudari, literally "descended from heaven," retiree from the Ministry of Finance.
-Many smoking campaigns in Japan revolve around manners. The Ministry of Finance and Japan Tobacco, Inc. want smokers to "smoke clean." Smokers are requested to carry portable ashtrays, throw cigarette butts in proper recepticles, and not cause fires. Non-smokers are encouraged not to be overly sensitive to the presence of some smoke.
-The tobacco industry likes to speak about anti-tobacco lobbyists using military imagery such as the words "war," "battle," "guerillas," and "brigade."
-Phillip Morris internally distributes anti-smoking resources produced by its opponents in order to craft its responses effectively. The company also worked to discredit individuals in those groups who spoke out against smoking.
-When the ban on tv advertisements for cigarettes was lifted in Japan in 1986, the number of US cigarette exports went from 9.9 billion to 32 billion in one year.
-Phillip Morris targeted the aspirations of young male Japanese smokers. Their ads featured fast cars, Hollywood celebrities, and a James Bond-type representation.
-The
tobacco industry created an idustry-wide self-regulating body, the
Tobacco Institute of Japan, to keep outside regulators from feeling they
had to take action. The Tobacco Institute of Japan represents the
industry "to ensure that the [tobacco] industry's interests are
protected," including establishing and monitoring "the voluntary code on
cigarette advertising." While this gives the impression of regulation,
there's no means to enforce anti-smoking regulations.
-As an example of the way self-imposed regulation works, the Tobacco Institute of Japan developed their own voluntary code. The less profitable radio, internet, and movie ads were banned, while the industry could still advertise in magazines, on billboards, by sponsoring events, and by distributing samples.
The 10 list above came from the following three articles:
How Phillip Morris Unlocked the Japanese cigarette Market: lessons for global tobacco control by A. Lambert, J. Sargent, A. Glantz, and P. Ling, published in Tobacco Control
"Asia is now the Priority Target for the World ant-tobacco Movement": Attempts by the tobacco industry to undermine the Asian anti-smoking movement by J. Knight and S. Chapman, published in Tobacco Control
The Landscape of Japanese Tobacco Policy: Law, smoking, and social change by E. Feldman, published in The American Journal of Comparative Law
And if you'd like to see more anti-smoking posters put forth by the Tobacco Institute: go here.
On the page, the blue bubbles will take you to the 2011, 2010, and 2009 campaigns. The "20" in question refers to the age when Japanese citizens are allowed to legally purchase cigarettes.
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