JAPAN NEWS PROGRAM SCRAPS AD FOR DISCRIMINATING VS FEMALES

TV Asahi Corp. has discontinued an online advertisement for its Hodo Station evening news program after many criticized the commercial as being discriminatory against women, and posted an apology on the program's official Twitter account on March 24, Yuka Obuno reported for Mainichi Shimbun.

The hashtag "HoSta," an abbreviation for Hodo Station, "outdated," and other related terms trended on Twitter in Japan. The commercial shows a young woman who apparently just came home from work, speaking while facing the audience.

With a smile on her face, she says things including, "My senior colleague who returned from maternity leave came to work with their baby, and it was just so cute," "Some politicians are finally putting up gender equality as their slogan, but like at this point, it's so outdated," and, "I bought skin lotion. It's a really good product."

Realizing that the news program is about to begin, she says, "Oh it's 9:54 p.m., can I turn on the news?" Then the words, "This person is surely watching HoSta" appear over her face.

Many took to the internet slamming the advertisement as taking lightly the reality that a gender gap exists in Japan. Some comments posted online read, "Is it bad to put up gender equality as a slogan? Do they believe that by making a woman say that, it's already achieved?" and, "I don't understand why they have to make her say 'it's so outdated' in such a casual manner."

The words that appear over the woman's face also invited criticism. A comment posted on Twitter read, "It's full of malicious preconceptions that young women are ignorant and don't watch news programs," while another pointed out how using the term "koitsu," an impolite way to say "this person," to refer to the actress is making fun of women.

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