Chicago Cubs Unveil an Ad Campaign Featuring Fukudome and Militaristic Rising Sun Flag
Although the ads were an attempt to showcase their international players, the offensive image is getting more attention.
The Chicago Cubs baseball team thought their clever new ad campaign featuring Japanese import Kosuke Fukudome would successfully show off their international lineup. Unfortunately, the ad's image of a militaristic Rising Sun flag is getting more attention than their beloved new acquisition.
The new ad launched on Jan. 22 features an in-motion Fukudome surrounded by the red and white rays of the Rising Sun flag, a wartime image long considered offensive to Asian Americans and older veterans. Accompanying the image is the phrase: "I don't need an interpreter. My bat does the talking."
In addition to right fielder Fukudome, several other international Cubs players are featured in the new print and outdoor ad campaign including: Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano whose ads include part of the Dominican Republic flag. All of the ads use the Chicago Cubs colors red, white, and blue.
When first unveiled, Scott Maney, president and executive creative director of Jones, the Chicago ad agency responsible for the campaign said: "Most of the time advertising has to work pretty heard to lift a brand up. But with the Cubs, the opposite is true. The brand is already so sacred the advertising has to work extremely hard just to keep up."
But soon after the ads hit the streets of Chicago and the print media, bloggers raised their voices in outrage, wondering in amazement why the Cubs would choose to use the Rising Sun flag, an image many consider offensive for its historical connotations.
On the blog www.on205th.com, an entry is titled: "The Chicago Cubs have no problem offending people." The blogger goes on to say, "Cool looking huh? One problem though. The Rising Sun Flag image that they used ... yeah it's offensive to millions of people."
" ... in a time when Major League Baseball is trying to extend tentacles globally, maybe the flag concept wasn't the smart way to go," wrote Jay Mariotti, Chicago Sun-Times columnist, shortly after the Fukudome ad ran in the Jan. 23 issue of the Sun-Times.
Local Asian Americans aren't too impressed either and wonder how this could have passed through the Chicago Cubs organization without - pardon the pun - raising any red flags.
"It is distasteful to use painful historic symbols in mass media. It's like using the swastika to represent a player of German descent," said Brandon Mita, a member of the Chicago JACL chapter who thinks the Fukudome ads should be pulled immediately.
The Rising Sun flag is the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force ensign and is largely associated with the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy of World War II, an Army that occupied fellow Asian nations at the time. Even today, the image is offensive to countries that experienced Japanese wartime hostility including China and Korea.
"This is one in a series of ads highlighting the 2008 Chicago Cubs. The overwhelming response to the campaign has been positive and we're excited about the upcoming season," said Peter Chase, director of media relations for the Cubs.
"The ads featuring Kosuke Fukudome ran to showcase our new right fielder. They were certainly not intended to offend. That ad finished its run a few weeks ago and ads featuring Aramis Ramirez are running at this time. The campaign continues as planned."
Maney declined to make a statement regarding the recent flag controversy but instead referred the P.C. to the Cubs media relations department.
Fukudome was acquired during the offseason after playing with the Japanese team Chunichi Dragons. As of Feb. 12, the Fukudome ad with the Rising Sun background is still being featured on the Cubs official Web site.
"The Cub's apparent inaction since the public expression of concern over the campaign ... is typical of the media's ignorance of and insensitivity to the concerns of Asians and Asian Americans alike," said Megan Nakano, Chicago JACL president.
"This reaffirms the need for education and advocacy."
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