Tania, ah yes, Prettyland, where everyone is welcome, but few can enter. I suppose some folks would go weird trying to get in there, heh.

AmyK, I don’t think Coco’s homophobia and Nazi-sympathies were overly well known, and for the times would have been easily overlooked even if they were. Chanel the company is a thing removed nowadays from Chanel the person… I’d bet her personal issues just weren’t considered anything big in the early days of the company, and now the Chanel is what it is. Which is huge. I don’t know if anyone owns Blue-Q, or if it’s its own company. Not sure.

Nina, “What a tricky subject this all is..but I’m glad we’re discussing it, because being too ‘nice’ to talk about it is how bad habits get perpetuated.” Precisely. And moreover, I think it’s interesting to see how we individually interpret the subject. It certainly makes good food for thought to look at in from a variety of perspectives.

chayaruchama, I would think that yes, this product would suffer from a limited customer base as well. I have a hard time believing that only a handful of folks would see it and think it’s packaging is “off.”

sybil, yeah, I’m old and crabby too, so maybe that’s it! Heh. Nah, I just like seeing what other folks see, too, and this was one product that would be especially fun to find out with.

greeneyes, I think condescending is the word for it - I just couldn’t think of it. I think you’re so right when you wonder, “I’m just saying, it’s odd what young people will find to “other” themselves, without considering that it might be, if not harmful, well…slightly condescending.” Of course, it’s odd what not-so-young people will find to “other” themselves as well - hence Idole’s colonialistic sentiment.

cheezwiz, hmmm, the “oh-so-ironic” thing would actually explain a lot to me about the appeal and the marketing decisions. I dunno, it’s really hard for me to be hip like that, though. Methinks I am Methuselah-old in a marketer’s eyes ;)

Kate, and I think the play on the “me so horny” line is what’s particularly bugging - the messed-up orientalism of that line (and the song) gives me a full body cringe. Ugh. It’s not funny, just awful.

Gail, I was playing with the idea of making up a phony “ugly american” perfume with this post, but… I figured it’d be overkill. I wonder if there is some corollary version of Miso Pretty out there already?

Angela, oh I know that place! We’ve always skipped it though. There used to be a family-operated Japanese restaraunt in Gresham that was awesome and made lots of dishes that weren’t all teriyaki-this and teriyaki-that. Now it’s closed. Sigh. So, we’ll be on the search for a different good place now…

kuri, I wondered about the characters… But of course, I don’t know Japanese, and wouldn’t know the difference between them and say, for example, Hanzi/Kanji characters. “I think a lot of Japanese “word-mangling” is unintentional.” It happens in any language… I think sometimes it gets fetishized over here, though.

violetnoir - my customer I’d mentioned up earlier in the comments was black, and she collected. But, it was only the posters from her old hometown, not just any old thing she found. There’s a professor here in Portland at PSU who maintains a huge collection of the stuff, partly for study, but I also remember him saying something like he was compiling the collection so folks couldn’t pretend that it didn’t happen and wasn’t part of Portland/Oregon history. I tend to agree with you that it’s not that common, but I’m only basing that opinion just from my own friends, not from any scientific anaylysis. Not on the subject at hand, but: EEEEEEE! Another Dunbar fan!! I KNEW you had excellent taste, I just knew it! :)

Thanks again, everyone, for taking the time to weigh in with such thoughtful comments!

I recall the famous African-American writer/poet, Paul Lawrence Dunbar’s poem entitled “Little Brown Baby with Sparkling Eyes.” Mr. Dunbar wrote it in a post-Civil War vernacular that freed slaves spoke at that time, but I do not feel that it was meant to offend, simply to conjure a period of time in the country when freed men and women were establishing themselves as US citizens. This picaninny/minstel “art,” on the other hand, was created by racists who meant it to disparage the Negro race.

And, I think Amy K. raises a very good question, one that I was wondering myself just yesterday as I read Marian Bendeth’s lovely article about her visit to Paris: Why IS Chanel so popular when she was involved in a sexual affair with a high-ranking Nazi officer during WWII? You never really hear this addressed too much anymore. No wonder I don’t like Chanel products that much…

Anyway, the Miso Pretty thing seems harmless, but I feel that it does generate and perpetuate negative perceptions about Asians. I guess, as far as I’m concerned, if it does not pass the “smell” test (literally and figuratively in this case!), I won’t touch it.

Thank you for writing this thoughtful and thought-provoking post, Katie.

Hugs!

I don’t see any resemblance to Japanese anime in the body mist packaging. It reminds me of the Chinese art deco posters from the 1920s and 30s (plus the Betty Boop cheeks). The character usage doesn’t look Japanese to me. It’s an odd mixing of references (do they not know the difference, or do they not care?) and I can’t help thinking it’s in poor taste and am undecided about whether I feel anything more strongly than that.

p.s. I think a lot of Japanese “word-mangling” is unintentional. And a lot of it has to do with creation of slang by contracting and mixing and matching word compounds (Japanese and non-Japanese).

I do love the idea of Honky Eau de parfum tho.

Top:
Cumin for the sweaty topnote
Black Currant/Buchu for urinous dog
Tuberose to try to hide the previous
Middle:
Overpowering Jasmine
Chinese Rose

Base:
Hops (Hey, every Honky perfume has to have beer)
Birch Tar and ozone (for a rubber with a hole in it.

gail