Face Mask Advertising

Now then, how did mask producing companies advertise masks? The Meiji face mask tries to catch the consumer’s attention with the inscription ‘RESPIRALTLL’. The packaging also depicts a man of status wearing the face mask. With this depiction, the Meiji mask targets a certain audience. Interestingly, this classic method of mask advertising may still be seen in Japan today. However, due to expanding face mask purposes and an evolution in mask design, mask advertisements have certainly changed a great deal.

With the development of the mask industry, masks started to lose a clearly defined purpose in the 21st century, which becomes evident when looking at face mask packaging and commercials (clip 1). In the commercial of clip 1, no mention is made of the health protection purposes of the mask advertised. Instead, the commercial solely focuses on enhancing one’s looks and achieving “a smaller looking face all day long.”

Generally, masks from the 2000s are no longer primarily related to health protection purposes. Mask advertisements and commercials often do not even relate to any health protection purposes at all. For example, the mask in figure 5 by Unicharm, like the commercial in clip 1, is intended to increase beauty by creating a seemingly smaller face. Other masks such as the P´s corporation mask in figure 6 are advertised to ward off foul smells on the train. Interestingly, both of these masks make no mention of any health protection purpose in their advertisements.

But what happens to these masks that have lost their health protective purposes when a pandemic strikes? In the next step we will find out how the Coronavirus has impacted the mask producing industry in Japan.