# New Toyota Japan Ad with Topless Model **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 24, 2012, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462 "2012-08-24T06:54:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/41 "2012-08-25T15:39:45Z")
I don’t get it, are we supposed to think that this is an estate car from the rear, but then we look up front and it’s not? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/42 "2012-08-25T16:11:39Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > I have absolutely no idea why the nipple’s visibility makes all the difference in the universe It ain’t the nipple, dude. It’s what the nipple is sitting on. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/43 "2012-08-25T18:08:14Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Has there been any reaction to it in japan, good or bad? I thought Japan had a pretty conservative culture. Japanese culture is both more and less conservative than that of the US, depending on what exactly one is talking about. For instance, I was living in Japan at the time of Janet Jackson’s Superbowl “wardrobe malfunction”, and the Japanese people I knew thought it was _hilarious_ that Americans were shocked or offended by this. I have no idea how this particular ad is going over in Japan, but Japan does have a long tradition of cross-dressing in entertainment (ranging from traditional kabuki theater to nightclub performers) so the gender-bending aspect of this commercial probably isn’t in and of itself seen as especially shocking. The model’s skimpy costume might be a different story, I don’t know. ETA: For what it’s worth, while I don’t think a commercial like this would air on US television, I remember at least one far weirder gender-bending ad that did. I can’t recall what it was for – a soft drink? a car? – but there was a 20-something “dude” character who had a magic device that made the things around him more awesome. He turned his car into a cooler car, then turned his dude buddy into a sexy woman and drove off with her. The transformation actually took place on screen, with the friend reacting with horror to the breasts sprouting on his chest and yelling for his friend to stop. It was pretty disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/44 "2012-09-01T19:00:31Z")
Yep. It’s a guy. \*\* shudders \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/45 "2012-09-01T23:25:36Z")
The woman who turned out to be a man thing was briefly entertaining. I guess it was a car ad. I don’t know for what brand. I couldn’t tell you which model. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/46 "2012-09-01T23:37:34Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > The woman who turned out to be a man thing was briefly entertaining. I guess it was a car ad. I don’t know for what brand. I couldn’t tell you which model. I can. It was a [male model.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/22/stav-strashko-toyota-commercial_n_1822990.html) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/47 "2012-09-01T23:39:29Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Pretty sure that chick’s a dude. Amusing poster/post content combination. ---
**Author:** ![alindallas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@alindallas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alindallas)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/48 "2012-09-02T05:02:15Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > So…is the car available as a Convertible? I think it’s a “crossover”. o.0 ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/49 "2012-09-02T05:48:09Z")
> [@alindallas](#): > > I think it’s a “crossover”. o.0 End the thread. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/50 "2012-09-02T08:03:53Z")
Since the OP hinted at a surprise, I expected it as soon as the add began. Nice. I like me some androgyny. ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/51 "2012-09-02T13:43:50Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Why would a japanese market make a non-japanese model surprising? Ever seen an American commercial with a non-American model in it? NO. One of the dangers of living in a non-homogenous population: just about _everybody_ looks like they might be _from_ here. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cmosdes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cmosdes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmosdes)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/52 "2012-09-03T03:27:16Z")
True story. My brother and I were biking along a highway and were about 20 minutes ahead of a pack of female racers. The road was lined with people waiting for the group of racers to come by. As we approached one vehicle, we could clearly see a guy inside taking lots of pictures. When we were really close, he lowered the camera and looked at his friend, face crestfallen and said, “Those are dudes!” My brother and I nearly fell off our bikes laughing. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/53 "2012-09-05T03:11:40Z")
One bar owner in our Patpong red-light area hired a bunch of ladyboys one time, because Japanese businessmen really liked to take them off for some personal recreation. But then the business season or whatever ended, and the Japanese customers dried up, so the owner had to let all the ladyboys go, because no one else wanted them. I recall sitting in Big Dog Bar one time, right at the entrance to Nana Plaza, the big red-light “shopping center,” watching the world go by, when I saw this older Japanese man running – not walking but running – to a taxi with two ladyboys in tow from one of the several ladyboy bars in the place. The Japanese may not be the onoly ones to patronize ladyboys, but they do seem really to like them. ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/54 "2012-09-05T17:20:24Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > End the thread. What are you, some sort of pun nazi? Thread ended [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s\_law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law) ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/55 "2012-09-07T14:56:31Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > What are you, some sort of pun nazi? > > Thread ended > > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s\_law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law) > [@wikipedia](#): > > It is considered poor form to raise such a comparison arbitrarily with the motive of ending the thread. There is a widely recognized corollary that any such ulterior-motive invocation of Godwin’s law will be unsuccessful. Thread continues. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/56 "2012-09-07T15:29:45Z")
It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-toyota-japan-ad-with-topless-model/632462/58 "2014-01-07T03:42:11Z")
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