Seriously... what's up with Japanese commercials? I'm not exactly dissing them, as many of them are just downright hilarious, but a lot of them do come off, at least to a gaijin like me, as incredibly absurd. Do the Japanese really find this attractive as a marketing strategy, or do they find it as silly as I do?

For example, I saw the funniest commercial today about jock itch cream. I think it was called Delicare M. They showed 3 guys from different walks of life who had jock itch, and then they talked about the cream for like 5 seconds, and the guys were lifting one leg, supposedly "showing off their non-itchy groins" or something of that nature. And then there were a bunch of office workers (male, of course) singing for like 10 or 15 seconds about how remarkable the product is. It was a pretty catchy little number, too. I have no idea wtf they actually said in English, but I do remember it vividly.

I can name a bazillion other over-the-top Japanese commercials, such as the 2 Pretz ones with the woman saying "tsupari tsupari tsupari" while doing the particular hand motion. There's also one with some Japanese woman standing behind a toilet, and 2 blue penguins come into the clip from out of nowhere and change the toilet seat to some "fancier" brand. It was quite odd. The fact that they had a toilet commercial at all is kind of funny to me, considering I have yet to even see a single toilet commercial here in the U.S. We usually stick with the toilets that are in our homes for life after we move in unless, of course, they just break down or stop working, which is rare.

The Pizza La commercial with Bob Sapps (former or current UFC fighter) dancing around with 4 cute Japanese women in red pants is another classic. I think there was also a really crazy one made in the '80s or '90s with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Is it actually proven that over-the-top commercials in Japan help make a lot more money for these companies than calmer, less ridiculous ads? Are the Japanese simply a lot better at marketing than everyone else?

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Sometimes out of boredom I take the time to watch some japanese commercials I like them and think for what they are advertising its very clever. I think it gets your attention when you watch it if you were watching it while you were watching tv in Japan. Like I remember seeing this commercial for Ajinomoto Stadium where this new guy in town is freaked out cause all the japanese girls have these deep manly voices and he meets this one whose voice is fine and its because she doesn't go to the games yelling out loud and losing her voice. I was like what the? thats a interesting way to advertise a stadium.