EMobile
Emobile is founded by Dr Sachio Semmoto on January 5, 2005 as a subsidiary of eAccess, offering 3G/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA/LTE services. As they used to offer only data services they were not widely known, but after teaming up with NTT DoCoMo to offer voice services, they became more popular. EMOBILE had a reseller/virtual network arrangement with several fixed-line ISPs including ASAHI Net. As of March 31, 2009 their website claimed 90% coverage of Japan's population.
As of April 17, 2009 EMOBILE introduced HSUPA to metropolitan areas claiming support for 5.8Mbit/s. As of early 2011, 21Mbit/s HSPA+ and 42Mbit/s DC-HSPA+ is available in major metropolitan areas, depending upon the subscriber modem used. On March 15, 2012, they began offering LTE service with initial advertised speeds of 75Mbit/s. It is claimed that this speed will eventually increase to 112Mbit/s.
Total EMOBILE subscribers as of April 30, 2009 was 1.53 million. On January 1, 2013 eAccess became a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank Corporation (now SoftBank Group Corporation). eAccess merged with Willcom to form Ymobile in July 2014.[1]
eMobile Change Advert
An ad for eMobile shows the firm's mascot, a monkey in a suit addressing a political rally in Japanese and surrounded by supporters brandishing placards with the word "Change". The apparent intention is to persuade subscribers to other mobile phone carriers to transfer to eMobile. But the combination of the monkey, and the resemblance of his message to the theme of Obama's campaign - "Change we can believe in" - prompted bloggers to accuse the company of making a racist slur against Obama.[2]
Controversy
EMobile has been halted because this ad as it depicts monkey as a political candidate after bloggers said the commercial was a racial slur against, then U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Some bloggers said the eMobile ad was racist because it seemed to refer to Obama and his campaign slogan advocating change. Telegraph newspaper also ran a story saying the ad “apparently portraying Barack Obama as a monkey has provoked a new row about racial depictions of the Democratic candidate”.
Monkeys, while revered in parts of Asia, are viewed in the United States as a racial slur if used to depict African Americans.
Clarification
eMobile clarified that the firm never meant to malign Obama but, Sachio Semmoto, chief executive of eMobile, said the ad was promptly pulled once it was realised that some offence could be caused.[3] He also said that the advertisement, which he said was produced by WPP Group Plc's WPP.L JWT unit, had meant to underscore his firm's commitment to change.
“For two years I’ve been saying that Obama has the capacity to change America, the kind of capacity that Japan needs.”[4]
The company, which stressed it had used the macaque mascot in several other adverts, said it had never intended to insult Obama but had decided to pull the "Change" ad in response to criticism in the blogosphere.
"We had no bad intentions, but this is a cross-cultural gap issue and we have to accept it," eMobile's chief executive, Sachio Semmoto, told Reuters. "There are African-Americans in Japan, so we decided to take prompt action and shut down the ad."[5]
References
- ↑ Ymobile. Retrieved on December 26, 2020.
- ↑ McCurry, Justin (2008). Monkey advert 'resembling' Obama is pulled in Japan. Retrieved on December 26, 2020.
- ↑ General Japan News (2008). Japanese mobile phone firm pulls 'Obama monkey' ad. Retrieved on December 26, 2020.
- ↑ Reuters (2008). Japan firm scraps ad after racial controversy. Retrieved on December 26, 2020.
- ↑ McCurry, Justin (2008). Monkey advert 'resembling' Obama is pulled in Japan. Retrieved on December 26, 2020.