カロリーメイト | 光も影も | 2024
Creating Light with an Eraser / CALORIEMATE "Light and Shadow"
The tenth installment in the series, and the first time an art school exam candidate took the lead role. Boys had taken the lead four years running, from '19 to '22, so longtime fans who'd been thinking "maybe it's a girl's turn soon" couldn't help but grin.
The problem
CALORIEMATE's exam-candidate commercials have been running as a series since 2012. Over the past decade, the routes into university have diversified with more recommendation and AO admissions, so it's no longer just one straight path anymore.
The insight
The ad portrays two close friends on different paths: one preparing for art school, the other for a science track. One feels discouraged seeing someone more skilled at drawing, while the other grows anxious watching a classmate get accepted through a recommendation. The contrast between talent and effort, the new angle of a practical skills exam, and the mention of "beauty" are what make this year's ad different.
The idea
Before filming, actress Ao Ito trained from scratch—starting with how to properly hold a pencil and eraser—so she could show genuine drawing technique on screen. The scene where the two friends show each other their sketches, saying "Can I see?" "Wow, that's really good," feels just like real classmates. Light and shadow were deliberately worked into the shots, and even the length of the shadows in the final schoolyard scene was carefully considered. The music is a piano arrangement by Hayato Sumino of the opening theme from Smile PreCure!. For the graphics, sketches drawn overnight by 20 students from Tokyo University of the Arts and Tama Art University were displayed in Shibuya and Umeda train stations.
What happened
The ad won the ACC Grand Prix for the fourth year in a row, along with a Silver in the Film Craft category. It also picked up the Asahi Advertising Award, the Grand Prix at the TCC Awards, and the Dentsu Advertising Award.
Afterthought
Creating light with an eraser—the way she holds that pencil and eraser seems to perfectly echo the whole theme of exam prep. The acting from around 1:40, where you can tell she's truly "in it," paired with the swelling piano, really got to me. Guess I'd better work hard too!
