大塚製薬 | 入学から、この世界だった僕たちへ。 | 2023
No One Was Watching, Behind the Mask / Otsuka Pharmaceutical CALORIEMATE "To Us, For Whom This Has Been the World Since We Entered School."
A track athlete running in a mask, a canoe club member paddling at dusk, a kendo student swinging a sword at home. You can only see half their face, but their eyes alone carry all the intensity.
The problem
For kids who started high school in 2020, wearing a mask wasn't some unusual situation—it had been their everyday reality the whole time. No school trips, smaller cultural festivals, eating lunch in silence. Even their families couldn't come to cheer them on. Behind the words "I've gotten used to it" was a hidden truth: "I just want to go all out without a mask."
The insight
CalorieMate didn't have the students speak that truth themselves. Instead, they let rapper Gohdo's poetry speak for them. The film also shows handwritten words on the acrylic partitions in the classroom reflected on screen, and the line "Still, I don't want to use this unusual situation as an excuse" really hits home.
The idea
Track, canoe, kendo. The film simply and quietly shows their everyday practice in masks, with no flashy tricks at all. Over that, Gohdo's reading plays, and the words "To us, for whom this has been the world since we entered school" ring out. At Shibuya Station, two kinds of graphics shot through acrylic partitions were also displayed.
What happened
In 2023, it won the ACC Gold in the Film category at the ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS. It was also recognized with multiple other awards, including the Galaxy Award Encouragement Prize and Silver at the Dentsu Advertising Awards.
Afterthought
Even as they said "I've gotten used to it," they probably never really wanted to get used to it at all. Having someone else's voice speak the feelings hidden behind the mask—I think that alone must have been a real comfort to the people living through it.
