Shibuya McDonalds Sets New Sales Record (Edit: We Love Mr James)

[Mulboyne]

The Shibuya Toei Plaza McDonalds branch set a new single-day sales record for the fast food company at the beginning of Golden Week. Customers snapped up more than 20,000 meals which took receipts to 12,450,000 yen, easily surpassing the previous record of just over 10 million yen set in a Midosuji branch in Osaka last year.

[Mulboyne]

McDonalds has started selling pink T-shirts in a Shibuya Center Gai shop.

[Mulboyne]

McDonalds has a new gaijin "image character" called Mr. James.

[wuchan]

looks like the managers back in the U.S.

[Mulboyne]

McDonalds has a new gaijin "image character" called Mr. James.

Now spotted by Debito.

[james]

McDonalds has a new gaijin "image character" called Mr. James.

ah christ. i'm never gonna hear the farking end of this.

voice your opinion here...

[GomiGirl]

McDonalds has a new gaijin "image character" called Mr. James.

Now spotted by Debito.

After checking out the Debito site, I checked out his bio again as the Mr James character kinda looked familiar..


[floatl][/floatl]

Now I don't want to talk about stereotypes or anything but... do you think McD's needed inspiration?

[Kuang_Grade]

he strikes me as a less portly but more unkempt and poorly dressed Jon Hodgman (ie, the PC guy)....a knit shirt with a tie, come on!

[yt]5cVk9e2NP50[/yt]

[Taro Toporific]

ah christ. i'm never gonna hear the farking end of this.

'So ka! Mr. James & JacDonalds thinks this is humor.


Click to view video.

[IkemenTommy]

I give Mr. James about a month before his holiday visa expires and he has to return to wherever he is from.

[james]

I give Mr. James about a month before his holiday visa expires and he has to return to wherever he is from.

i give him about a week until someone finds him and opens up a big ol' can of whoopass on this sellout piece of shit.

[DrP]

How fucking lame. I'm going to the toilet now to puke up the BigMac I just ate... sorry MickeyD - you just crossed the line...

[YT]eDMgvsv0vas[/YT]

[DrP]

Cant forget the real Mr. James ...

[YT]QJTb130GR0E[/YT]

[Taro Toporific]

i...open up a big ol' can of whoopass on this sellout piece of shit.

[DrP]

wimpy wampy wambley

[Taro Toporific]

i give him about a week until someone finds him and opens up a big ol' can of whoopass

His name seems to be "James Tamaran" but sadly Tameran is just a katakana approximation.

[color="White"]. . . . . . . . . . . .[/color]

[IkemenTommy]

[Mulboyne]

[Taro Toporific]

[GomiGirl]

A twitter friend said she got an apology from Micky D's saying that they apologise for any offence caused by the CM and they would pass it onto the Japan ad staff. Will update more when I get more deets.

[IkemenTommy]

James Tamaranai/(intolerable) ...Ahhh, now that makes sense unless you're Roger Pulvers of The Japan Times.

You mean this guy? God, are we still living in 1995 Web1.0 era?

[IkemenTommy]

A twitter friend said she got an apology from Micky D's saying that they apologise for any offence caused by the CM and they would pass it onto the Japan ad staff. Will update more when I get more deets.

Lawsuit!!

[james]

[IkemenTommy]

[Greji]

If the McFuckers send you an auto-bot auto-reply, then most likely your opinion will be discarded without ever reading. After all, McFuckers customer service (i.e. customer complaints) at the store usually means you get fnew fries as a free exchange.

Debito fired off a screamer by owl in his FRANCA role:

"NPO Foreign Residents and Naturalized Citizens Association (FRANCA)
[...], Sapporo, Japan
FRANCA is registered with the Japanese government as an NPO.
Registration number 4300-05-005413

McDonald's Corporation Headquarters
2111 McDonald's Dr, Oak Brook, IL 60523 USA
(http://www.mcdonalds.com/contact/contact_us/social_responsibility.html)
cc:
Walt Riker
Vice President, Corporate Media Relations
walt.riker@us.mcd.com
Heidi Barker
Sr. Director, Corporate Media Relations
heidi.barker@us.mcd.com
Louise Marcotte-Jervoe
Director, Corporate Media Relations
louise.marcotte@us.mcd.com
Tara Handy
Sr. Manager, Corporate Media Relations
tara.handy@us.mcd.com
Lisa McComb
Sr. Manager, Corporate Media Relations
lisa.mccomb@us.mcd.com
Lizzie Roscoe
Supervisor, Corporate Media Relations
lizzie.roscoe@us.mcd.com
Theresa Riley
Administrative Coordinator, Corporate Media Relations
theresa.riley@us.mcd.com
Sue Atzhorn
Administrative Coordinator, Corporate Media Relations
sue.atzhorn@us.mcd.com

To Whom It May Concern:

We write to you on behalf of FRANCA, a human rights group concerned with the rights of non-Japanese residents in Japan. Our goals are: 1) To eliminate negative public images and stereotypes of non-Japanese and multi-cultural Japanese]www.francajapan.org[/url].

We wish to bring to your attention a sales campaign launched this month by McDonald's Japan that we find extremely problematic.

The "Mr. James" character, representing the "Nippon All Stars" hamburger campaign, features a spectacled Caucasian narrating his love for Japan and Japan's version of McDonald's' hamburgers. Our association finds the following things problematic:

1) The character speaks broken accented Japanese (using the katakana script, one used for foreign loanwords). The impression given is that Caucasians cannot speak Japanese properly, which is simply not true for the vast numbers of non-native (and Japanese-native) foreigners in Japan.

2) The character is called "Mr. James" (again, in katakana), promoting the stereotype that foreigners must be called by their first names only (standard Japanese etiquette demands that adults be called "last name plus -san"), undoing progress we have made for equal treatment under Japanese societal rules.

3) The image used, of a clumsy sycophantic "nerd" for this Caucasian customer, is embarrassing to Caucasians who will have to live in Japan under this image.

To illustrate the issue more clearly, would McDonald's USA (or McDonald's in any other country, for that matter) choose to promote, for example, a new rice dish with a "ching-chong Chinaman" saying, "Me likee McFlied Lice!"? Of course not.

Likewise, we do not think these attitudes perpetuating stereotypes of ethnic minorities within their respective societies should be promoted anywhere by a multinational corporation with the influence of McDonald's. We ask that McDonald's Headquarters review McDonald's Japan's "Mr James" Campaign and have it discontinued immediately.

We look forward to your favorable reply.

Sincerely yours,
_____________________________
ARUDOU Debito (Mr.)
Chair, FRANCA Japan."

[IkemenTommy]

Bravo to Debito

[james]

Bravo to Debito

agreed; i think in this case his energies are being properly channeled.

[IkemenTommy]

To illustrate the issue more clearly, would McDonald's USA (or McDonald's in any other country, for that matter) choose to promote, for example, a new rice dish with a "ching-chong Chinaman" saying, "Me likee McFlied Lice!"? Of course not.

In retrospect, I never took the video offensive but Debito nailed it right here. It's the same double standards that exists in Japan like nowhere else.

[james]

In retrospect, I never took the video offensive but Debito nailed it right here. It's the same double standards that exists in Japan like nowhere else.

i've often wondered if this same kind of stupid shit goes down in korea. any of our korea-experienced / savvy users know?

[Marked Trail]