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INTEREST: Busty Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! Blood Donation Drive Poster Sparks Online Debate

They should have used the platelets looking all cute and pleading for donations.

I'm not so fussed about the boobs, but I'm not exactly sure why they used that character (I guess she's popular?), but more than that why that image? Couldn't they have commissioned something more relevant? She's just standing there in her waitress outfit holding a parfait. Doesn't really scream "blood donation" to me. I don't mind the concept of teasing people, after all, teasing girls is very In right now. So I guess I can understand the character... But it feels lazy.

I do agree with the first part of that statement, but not the second. While there is obviously a lot of adult and "ecchi" manga out there, the majority is not sexual, and I'd say that "large breasts" are pretty standard for adult female characters in general. I suppose this comes down to one's exact definition of "large".

This doesn't seem like a case of using "sex to sell" if you ask me. This is just a popular manga--and a pretty "clean" one at that--being used to promote a good cause.

Well if you think that boobs are inherently sexual than that is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Can I just take a second to point out the irony that one of your first picks to replace a character you perceive as having a body that is mainly about sex appeal is Goku?

I’d argue judging someone’s reason to donate blood is way more pathetic then someone donating blood for some anime artwork, even if the artwork has a cute/sexy/manly character on it. Sure it’d be nice if everyone selflessly donated blood to the blood selling companies (at least in the US) out of the goodness of their heart but we know it helps with a little bonus, be it free movie tickets, a goofy “I donated blood” tshirt, or anime tat.

Sex Sells.. and this picture is pretty tame so pretty much a nothing burger.

It's the cover illustration to the current volume of the manga which is very popular. I imagine that particular image is plastered all over the place.

If sex sells and we know it sells, then why are we still getting complaints about sex?

I'm sorry but that's just a pathetic reason to donate blood then. It honestly shouldn't even have to fall to supposed sex appeal just to have donations come in.

Quote:

the existence of large breasts does not equal sexualization

Depends. If we're talking about women who had their breasts grow that large naturally, then yes, it's not sexualization unless the woman chooses to flaunt them in a sexual manner. But, if we're talking about illustrations here, then that's a more difficult argument to make. I mean, I have yet to see a single manga illustrator who specifically chose to draw large-breasted girls for non-sexual purposes to the reader.

Nick4x wrote:

This is good marketing. It's helped increase blood donations and thus save lives.

Could you not get the same results with any other manga characters? What if you had Luffy or Goku promote blood donations? Does the desire to donate blood only work if a large-breasted anime girl implored you to?

You will always get complaints, it's human nature. The key is how many people are complaining versus those who are not. The original Tweet about this poster was not very popular and not very well received by Japanese people on Twitter . The existence of a handful of complainers does not disprove that sex does indeed sell and something most people enjoy and is used in a lot of Japanese media.

Advertisements focused on getting males to donate makes more sense.

As someone with a close family member who would not be alive today were it not for donated blood (quite a bit, over several years), I really don't care what a person's motivation is. Blood saves lives.

If a sexualized advertisement for blood donation (like, actually sexualized, as opposed to the one here) were to inspire twenty people to donate blood, who otherwise wouldn't, and a child with hemophilia or leukemia gets to live another day... you'd be angry with that? Would you go to that kid and tell them it's better they were dead, because someone got butthurt over a poster?

You're offended over a drawing, rather than offended that people are dying. What the hell is wrong with you?

Goku HATES needles. He'd never advocate for donating blood.

Even if the ad is targeted more towards men is that a bad thing? Donating blood when you are petite (5-5'2") is not a good idea as it can lead to anemia or loss of consciousness.. In general people in Japan are smaller than here in America and closer to that petite height. A lot less women are going to be viable donors. Advertisements focused on getting males to donate makes more sense.

Nick4x wrote:

Can I just take a second to point out the irony that one of your first picks to replace a character you perceive as having a body that is mainly about sex appeal is Goku?

Goku is looked mostly at with sex appeal...?

Depends on who you ask. Aesthetically, I could easily make the same assumption that Goku is drawn to appeal to women as I could that Uzaki is drawn to appeal to men. That's the problem when you only take physical appearance into account and leave out all other context.

You're offended that I had to point out that people need selfish motivations to do selfless acts when such acts should be a sign of common sense and human decency?

Now let's all have cake.