For over a year now, the Japanese branch of McDonald’s has been in perfect sync with fans of Japanese anime, much to the irritation of the Western corporate world.
While Western brands, driven by ESG initiatives, have been pushing diversity and inclusivity in their hiring practices and marketing by spotlighting so-called “marginalized” groups both sexually and racially, McDonald’s Japan has been going in the opposite direction.
They’ve been doubling down on marketing to, shocker, actual Japanese people, flooding social media with wholesome, family-centric anime ads that showcase a happy, traditional family rather than virtue signaling about drag queens and supposed “trans genocide.”
Since modern-day Americans apparently can’t relate to the concept of a loving and caring family, it’s no surprise they got all up in arms over McDonald’s Japan’s marketing focused on the traditional nuclear family.
Naturally, they took to Twitter to throw a collective tantrum, while McDonald’s Japan kept right on rolling out anime-styled ads featuring tight-knit families and teenage friends enjoying their time together.
More recently, McDonald’s Japan once again set social media on fire by introducing a brand-new anime-inspired mascot character, proving yet again that sticking to their roots resonates with their audience.
Enter “Ima Dake Dabuchi Tabemi,” affectionately nicknamed “Double Cheese” a clever wordplay on one of McDonald’s popular menu items, the double cheeseburger. This new mascot is an adorable character who, judging by her design, is “packed with flavor” and bursting with personality.
She sports McDonald’s signature colors of red, yellow, and white, complete with an iconic McDonald’s cap, a blue bowtie, and a short-sleeve yellow and red jacket. Her look is rounded off with twin pigtails that add to her irresistibly cute charm.
Naturally, she went viral after her debut in late October. And as expected from a nation brimming with artistic talent, Japanese artists wasted no time in bringing “Double Cheese” to life in their own creative ways.
Fan art flooded social media, ranging from quirky and wholesome to downright provocative, some even humorously depicted the characters breasts sandwiched between burger buns. Because, of course, the internet took this adorable new mascot and, well, did what the internet does best.
To put it bluntly, the mascot in question is clearly designed with a lolicon appeal, her short stature, cheerful expression, big open-mouthed smile, and eye-catching attire all exaggerate that sense of cuteness or “moe” as they call it.
The character’s design is clearly targeted towards younger audiences in Japan who are deeply fond of anime and Japanese pop culture. It truly is nice to see a company actually understand their audience and market to them effectively.
Unsurprisingly, McDonald’s isn’t thrilled about the surge of sexually explicit fan art featuring “Double Cheese.” The franchise is understandably concerned about how this impacts their brand image, especially when users on Twitter take it upon themselves to reply to official McDonald’s posts with suggestive artwork or lewd comments.
While the character was meant to be a fun and family-friendly mascot, the internet being the internet, quickly turned her into something else entirely, creating a PR headache for the fast-food giant.
Additionally, the hashtag ‘いまだけダブチ食べ美’ (Ima Dake Dabuchi Tabemi) has become flooded with artistic illustrations depicting the character in racy or suggestive scenarios.
This could spell trouble for McDonald’s brand image, especially given that a quick Google search of the mascot might lead to provocative fan art appearing among the top results. Naturally, McDonald’s wouldn’t want to be associated with distributing anything remotely suggestive or pornographic.
In response, McDonald’s Japan has issued a plea urging people to refrain from creating and sharing explicit material featuring “Double Cheese” without their permission. But in all honesty, these kinds of demands are likely to fall on deaf ears.
In fact, the more a corporation or government entity tries to suppress certain content, the more it seems to fuel people’s interest in producing and sharing it. By publicly asking fans to STOP making lewd artwork of Ima Dake Dabuchi Tabemi, it’s highly likely McDonalds have inadvertently boosted her popularity, ensuring that even more fan art gets created.
Ironically, their attempt to squash the trend may have just guaranteed that it becomes an even bigger phenomenon instead of letting it naturally fade away.
In an interview with J-Cast, McDonald’s was questioned about their awareness of sexually explicit illustrations of their new mascot circulating on social media, as well as their thoughts and intended response to this issue. A spokesperson for McDonald’s provided the following statement:
“Regarding our campaign content, we kindly ask that you refrain from any unauthorized reproductions or reprints without the permission of the rights holder. We would appreciate it if you read the terms of use available on our website and enjoy using social media responsibly and respectfully.”
Japan has a rich and vibrant culture of artistic freedom. Specifically, on Twitter, where much of their artwork is shared globally, adult material is permitted so long as explicit content involving sexual acts or nudity is properly labeled. This ensures it remains hidden from users who are either underage or have opted to block mature content from their feeds.
Seeing how the Ima Dake Dabuchi Tabemi hashtag or simply searching the term on Twitter is littered with suggestive artwork and pornographic illustrations, it’s obvious to tell that the situation has gotten out of hand for McDonald’s but ultimately complaining about the matter in question publicly will only make the situation worse for a prolonged period of time.
How McDonald’s plans to handle this situation moving forward remains uncertain. The Japanese division might even consider scrapping the Double Cheese mascot altogether if they feel her image has been tarnished enough to impact their brand negatively. Given the risk that any corporate posts featuring Ima Dake Dabuchi Tabemi could backfire, due to the increasing likelihood of her name and image being associated with explicit content McDonald’s might decide it’s safer to cut their losses.
The possibility of McDonald’s Japan dropping Double Cheese entirely is definitely on the table, which would be a shame. I was really looking forward to dropping my sesame “seeds” on her hot, crispy buns. But if the company decides to take such drastic measures, we may have to say goodbye to the spicy fun she brought to the menu.
