Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Can't Anime Use Trademarked Names?
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Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
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If I correctly recall, I did see a can of "Dr. Popper" in Is This A Zombie a while back.
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peno
Posts: 349 |
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Yowamushi Pedal made their own versions of Pepsi and Coca Cola, but I don't remember now what they were.
On the other hand, there were real Nikon camera in FLCL. And then, there were anime named Chō Soku Henkei Gyrozetter, which actually looked like real car commercial, since it featured so many real life cars, but since it's kids anime, the whole point actually sounds moot, since kids can't buy cars (though they could drive them in the actual anime, for whatever reason). |
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5328 |
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Cetais
Posts: 507 |
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Bepsi and Cole. |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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The laws have been standard for a while, it's just more "noticeable" to non-Japanese now as anime distribution has increased. On the one hand, I'm inclined to say "Gainax didn't give a ****" considering how early in their life Gunbuster was (and the "no care given to copyright" that was the Daicon animation). On the other hand, it also includes an homage to American comics professional Toren Smith, so it could have been fully cleared. I'm inclined to agree with the "free advertising" mindset, but IIRC trademarks (unlike copyright) are the ones that must be ACTIVELY defended, so I could understand if people are overly paranoid about them. That said, I think the absolute BEST "fake companies" are the fake anime companies in shows like Shirobako: http://fictionalcompanies.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Shirobako (like G.I. Staff and Musashino Animation and affiliated sponsor companies like Lanfis and BukeRoad) |
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pluvia33
 Posts: 194 Location: Dayton, OH, USA |
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Something I found interesting was that there seems to be different rules about manga in Japan. With Black Lagoon, the anime renamed the beer Heineken to HeireKen. However, I used to collect both the original Japanese manga and the Viz English release. While checking them together page-by-page to see if Viz edited anything, I noticed that the original Japanese release included full, unedited product names while Viz edited them to be generic or whatnot.
So I'm wondering if print media in Japan follows different rules, if they took the time to get clearance, or if the creator/editor/publisher just ignored the rules? |
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kakoishii
Posts: 741 |
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though not anime related in the least, I was thinking about this fairly recently after a hoarders binge. All those hoarders buy so many things, much of which are still in the bags from the stores they got them from. I remember thinking what a nightmare it must be for the show to contact all these retailers for each episode or if they just say fudge it and take a chance that a retailer may not want their brand featured in an episode.
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4471 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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The All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku OVA also had undisguised KFC in the first episode, although that was pretty much a "blink and you'll miss it" shot and not the focus of the episode like the "Benny's". 
I believe shows like Hoarders are considered "documentaries" where the rules against showing brands without clearance are looser although they might still sometimes blur if a particular company is especially litigious (like if someone's wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt). |
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WingKing
Posts: 617 |
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Dr. Pepper's been a popular one in anime ever since Stein's;Gate made it the "intellectual" drink. The hikikomori detective in Heaven's Memo Pad was addicted to it (as "DoKupe"), and as "Mr. Peter" in Chunibyo it was Rika's "mana potion." An amusing switchup to me was in Haruhi Suzumiya, where in their normal universe we always saw them using "Espon" (for Epson) computers and laptops, while in the Disappearance universe in the movie the clubroom has an NEC PC that runs Windows 95 (complete with splash screen and actual bootup sounds). |
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HeeroTX
Posts: 2046 Location: Austin, TX |
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I wonder if KFC is sometimes viewed as some kind of weird "exception". Col. Sanders statues are a fixture in a LOT of things and KFC (specifically) is apparently a weird Christmas tradition. |
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Tenchi
Posts: 4471 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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WingKing: The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie had actual product placement for/promotional tie-ins with Family Mart, so it wouldn't surprise me if the Microsoft Windows shots were also product placement (although it could also just be "clearance" without payment).
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7985 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Yeah, it's really a head scratcher when the same food chain gets their signals crossed like that. You'd think if they okayed it the first time, they wouldn't have a problem the second time. Darker Than Black had their Pizza Hut references removed too. I guess it's a case of the right hand of the company not knowing what the left is doing or the English license holding not wanting to deal with the red tape and just painting over the box logos. I always have to chuckle when I see a knockoff reference to a real product, though I usually only really notice it if it's familiar resturant, food, drink, or brand of electronics. |
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relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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These days I feel like we've actually gotten a few decent product tie-ins. The bike girls show, Bakuon, had legitimate sponsorship by auto manufacturers, as well as a number of other sports shows, if I'm remembering right.
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peno
Posts: 349 |
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It's actually even more funny when you realise in some areas Taco Bell was replaced by Pizza Hut in Demolition Man. I know it's not anime, but it just hit me considering the debate about Pizza Hut. |
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CMaxo
Posts: 2 |
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The thing about trademarks, logos and registered products (they're all different things, yet covered the same way) is relative to how they are handled and how the medium/media (movie, OAV, anime, manga, etc.) is being produced.
Back in the 90's only half of the animes were actually produced while they were diffused. This is because, back then, the production of an anime, for most part, always included new technologies that were brought in for testing. For example, a series of 12 or 13 episodes could be produced over the course of 1 month per episode. (so approx. 1 year to produce 12-13 weeks of content.) Also, back then, the way those animes production was paid wasn't exactly the same as today. Back in the 90's many anime were actually funded by toys companies (like how Hasbro was back in the days). Toys companies were seeing animes as big 6 hours commercials extended toward 4 months. To cover some of those cost, Toys companies were even up to the idea of bringing in big players such as Coca Cola and other food related companies who have always been prone to sell their product in heavy populated areas. For about a decade from now, the number of toys companies have been heavily reduced. Mostly due to the digitization of the hobbies of the young people. This has become a loop where toys aren't as creative anymore because development budgets are cut and then those toys aren't sold anymore because they become cheap. (Just think about how the Transformers toys have become. Their transformation mechanisms have become some real jokes!) So, those toys companies who, sometimes, found funding assistance from the big food companies slowly removed themselves from behind the Anime studios. How did the Anime studios reacted to this? They shorten the production time and kept looking for new technology to cover the lost of available time in the short deadline. This is how it came up to the point where an episode now can take only 1 week instead of 1 month to be produced (yet you can easily notice how some scene are in such poor quality or when things like background are reused again and again.) This brought the limitation which was explained in the ANN article where anime studios doesn't have any time in getting legal permission for using a legal brand, signature or logo. Most of the brand or logo or signatures that you see in any animes that are "real" were requested and accepted even before the anime's production started as it was part of the required funds to produce the said anime. I'm a freelancer as a Graphic Designer and Video Games developer and I have been working in the last 2 years to build my own embedded products & brands' assistance services. Even in those 2 years, I only have finished assisting 1 project at getting their funds. Not because it's "hard" or "long", but because of how things works in that kind of funding sources. You don't go to "Coca Cola" and just shout "Hey guys! Nice suits! Want some ads in some random game?" No, you first send them a preview of the thing... A short version of a couple of pages max if you wish and mention in it that you will get back in touch with them in a few months with more details unless they wish to learn more about it (we call this "a hook"). Most of the time, they read it quickly and don't bother further and will simply wait for your next approach. This is because they already have thousands of other possible source of promotional emplacement... TV, websites, movies, etc. It's nothing new or outstanding for them. Then, after 1 or 2 months, you send them the full bulk documents with tables, graphics, lots of numbers and researches. You're literally putting yourself (your business) naked. That's, normally, at least 18 pages of information even for something as short as a 4 secs logo appearances. Yeah... It's a huge pain in the neck. (And, yeah... you do this for ALL the companies that might be interested in adding their brands or logo in the product.) You might not receive any news in the next couple of months, but when it pass through their system and managers, you'll get, at one point, an email and/or a phone call (depending on how big you're aiming and how big they are willing to go for). You might end up with a 2 secs subtle product show at a specific scene that would net you 5K$ or 10K$ at most (like most of those random short logos you see around)... or with a huge brand deal that bring in the big money (*cough* Transformers... *cough* Dodge...) http://brandspotters.com has a really good database of that for Hollywood movies. (But not all is placement. Some are just part of the shots that were filmed with not monetary gains.) It's not simple on the surface and even less simple in the fine prints. Product emplacement also bring the controversial tip-dip wishes of the brand owners. For example, the brand owner "own" the right of the release date by YOUR balls. If they take 1 week to decided if they approve or not of the publishing of the work (be it a movie or a episode or a printed comic, you can't bypass them. It's all in the fine lines of the contract. They might decide to bring the analyse to their own interne or even outside analysis party... and guess what? Should that interne or outside party come up with an idea to push their "brand" even further, they will force you into putting that idea into effect. For example, having a Coca Cola brand on a can distributors might bring the idea of forcing you to push a similar concept of their competitor brand (Pepsi's blue, white and red) onto another machine in the background while the hero or character only take his drinks from that Coca Cola machine and simply ignore the Blue-ish machine. They can even request that the character pass in front of the blue-ish machine (ignoring it) first (just to push the nail further in that brand). Sure, it was not part of their original contract, but if they wish to stall the production, they got the right to do so... (Fine prints guys... fine prints.) The first Transformer movie was actually delayed many times because of Dodge requests when previewing the shots with their products. This is why it's SUCH A HUGE pain when you give them just a bit of "controls". There's 2 solution to avoid such hassle : A) You put fake brands and logo that looks alike to an existing brand. This bring the idea that the world is not so different than ours and cover the request, in the mind of the reader or viewer or player, that the world is living and not just a blank canvas. B) You put up a "emplacement market". This is the concept of having "open" lot in the media where companies can bid their place. As you might guess it, companies that wish to have perfect controls over their brands might not appears at all (most of the big companies for that fact) and the bids can be extremely low. Fast Food chains are companies that uses that a lot. That kind of thing comes with the rules that the producers have the final says on where and how the thing appears, but guaranties that the "brands" won't be diminished or hidden any further than the setting allows. (For example, in a zombie setting where survival has been around for months or years, brands might be dirtied and slightly damaged, but they must remains fully recognizable.) Another problem with this is that it requires LOTS of time. You don't put a market up just for a week. It's around 6-12 months, usually and comes with the possibility that one bidder turn back before the end... (So you need to keep track of the other bidders and negotiate things in such situation.) This is why, the option A) is mostly used in product that are quickly produced. |
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