Japaridelphia
Why a volcano for Japan?
I’m sure you’ve seen AT&T’s place name mash-up ads. This one greeted me at my neighborhood trolley stop early in the morning today. If you’re wondering what that lump is where Japan should be, I’m fairly certain it’s not a tumor or a wart - I’m pretty sure it’s a volcano. I guess they’re trying for Mt. Fuji, which actually is a dormant volcano, but I don’t think most people in the US know that (it last erupted 300 years ago). So it struck me as a cryptic choice - when I think “Japan,” “volcano” is not an image that comes to mind. It’s a shame because they could have had a lot of fun with other possibilities: Hello Kitty, Shinto shrine gates, sumo wrestlers, sushi, samurai, bullet trains, Astro Boy, cherry blossoms, geishas, and so on. The real problem is that the ad designers boxed themselves in with their choice of bland gray icons, as so much that is iconic about Japan is wonderfully colorful. What makes Mt. Fuji so recognizable is its white capped peak, but that aspect is lost in the ad’s bland grayness.
If he were more widely known outside Asia, I would have picked Doraemon for the ad. Here’s a picture I took of him on the Stanford campus about 6 years ago. When the University’s copy of The Thinker was temporarily removed for minor repairs, some enterprising students put Doraemon in his place.
November 18th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
I don’t think it is Japan:
1. because if you were going to symbolize Japan, would it be with a Volcano? Who thinks of Japan and then thinks of a volcano? You said it yourself, Hello Kitty, Astro Boy, Bullet trains etc.
2. Japan is a COUNTRY, not a CITY.
3. You said the white-capped peak is lost in the greyness. There is no peak on this volcano, it’s definitely more “volcano” and less “mountain” - I don’t think it’s supposed to have a snow-capped peak.
I think it is Jakarta, in Indonesia.
Indonesia is home to many of the world’s volcanoes and could be “renowned” for it, it would make much more sense to make their symbol a volcano. Such as one of the world’s largest ACTIVE volcanoes - Krakatoa.
November 19th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Everything you say makes sense to me.. but I should have pointed out that on the poster, to the lower left of the volcano, it says “Japan,” so there’s no question about that. I think one of their other word mash-up ads has “Dakota” in it, so they’re not consistently using just cities.
November 26th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
Haha, just came back to tell you I was wrong. I saw their Sanfrakota ad and sat down for ages trying to figure out the “kota” city, so you’re right. Stupid Japaridelphia ad.
December 27th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Can I just say I HATE these ads. They are so stupid and the funniest thing is that I have at&t and it barely works in the DC metro area, much less across the world in Japaridelphia or wherever the hell they actually are talking about.