エーザイ | チョコラBB | 1991
Hit, then hit back / Eisai "Chocola BB"
"Doesn't it wear you out, how many idiots there are in the world?" The moment Kaori Momoi said that straight into the camera, all of Japan erupted. In 1991, complaints poured in right after the Chocola BB commercial aired, and within a few days it was swapped for a different version. But that may have been the plan all along. This is the story of an almost too-perfect "hit, then hit back" moment that's gone down in advertising history.
The problem
In 1991, Japan's economy was starting to show signs of slowing down, and ordinary people were growing more sensitive to all sorts of things. Chocola BB had long been a beloved brand of vitamin supplement aimed mainly at working women, promising to fight fatigue. Copywriter Takashi Nakahata did what he always did: he wrote a single line of copy on manuscript paper with a pink marker and handed it to the director. The line had the kind of punch that could knock someone out in one blow.
The insight
Takashi Nakahata's copywriting was built on the philosophy that "advertising is a fight." The idea was to craft a line that felt like something the enigmatic, hard-to-pin-down Kaori Momoi would actually say. To make it feel real, he chose words that seemed like something she'd say naturally. "Doesn't it wear you out, how many idiots there are in the world?" was a line that only worked because it was Kaori Momoi saying it — langour and fierce personality rolled into one. And the backlash it triggered was, most likely, anticipated from the very start.
The idea
Kaori Momoi sits on a riverbank, looks straight into the camera, and asks, "Doesn't it wear you out, how many idiots there are in the world?" That's the whole simple setup. But right after it aired, complaints flooded in: "Don't call your viewers idiots." That's when the second version, prepared in advance, made its entrance. Same setting, same Kaori Momoi, but the line flipped completely: "Doesn't it wear you out, how many goody-goodies there are in the world?" A smart, sharp-edged reply to everyone who'd complained.
What happened
The commercial, swapped out within a few days, ended up causing a huge stir as a result. It's said that both versions were filmed from the start in anticipation of complaints, and some call it a win for the ad agency and Eisai. This was a single, decisive stroke of work that got to the very heart of what advertising is, from the pairing of Takashi Nakahata and director Naoki Imamura. Meeting the audience in their living rooms just once, with no chance to explain or make excuses, and still making sure the message landed — this piece was charged with exactly that kind of tension.
Afterthought
That feeling of watching a string of Nissin ads and suddenly thinking, "oh, right, this reminds me of something" — I totally get that. Back in a time when the term "controversy marketing" didn't even exist, to think there was already a "hit back" this calculated makes me shudder all over again at just how brilliant Takashi Nakahata was. Advertising really is a fight, I think. But it's because there were people who kept doing fight-like work with the tension of stepping into a boxing ring that works this memorable came to exist. I'll keep doing my best too.
