The Boston Red Sox are not fans of Matsuzaka's beer commercial

USA Today reports that the Boston Red Sox do not like the fact that Daisuke Matsuzaka, who recently signed a contract with them, is appearing in an Asahi Super Dry commercial in Japan:

The Boston Red Sox have expressed concern about pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka being featured in a commercial aired in Japan in which he’s seen chugging a beer, the Boston Herald reported.

Matsuzaka, who had an endorsement deal in place with Asahi before he signed with the Red Sox in December, is seen drinking an Asahi in a commercial in which he’s clad in a Red Sox uniform.

MLB players are not allowed to endorse beer domestically, but those rules do not apply to international advertisements. This ad was approved by Major League Baseball International.

“I called them, talked to their marketing people and explained the situation, and I believe they understand the situation and will probably be more careful in the future,” Red Sox spokesman John Blake told the Herald.

No word yet on whether the Yankees are angry about Hideki Matsui’s Asahi Super Dry commercial. You can view both of the commercials in high quality by clicking on the CM button on Asahi’s Official Super Dry homepage. How horribly offensive. Just think of the dozens of underage Americans who will watch these commercials and think it is cool to drink beer!

[Story via FG]

13 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - February 13, 2007 at 4:57 pm

Categories: Celebrity News, Japanese TV Tags:

http://www.transpacificradio.com Kenzo

Yeah, we shouldn’t teach kids that it’s cool to drink beer. We should teach them that if you drink beer, you’ll wake up in Shinjuku with your arms cut off.
Karina

Well, I have heard somewhere that advertising laws or something in the US don’t allow people drinking alcohol in the advertisements.
But then, even though Matsuzaka is on a US team, the advertisement is only being shown in Japan.
Despite the lack of actual “beer drinking” in the advertisements, I thought America has it’s own beer advertisements.
Why are they so uptight and ridiculous on these issues?
Something smells really repressive and ultra-puritan here.
No one is encouraging underage people to drink here in this situation, the advertisements are only being done in Japan, Asahi is a Japanese company, and actually drinking beer in beer advertisements in permitted in Japanese advertisements, so they shouldn’t have any qualms about it.
What, they think that no athletes have ever touched any alcohol under any circumstance?

Instead of moaning that Matsuzaka (I’m not even a baseball fan as I’m typing this!) is in a beer advertisement in Japan, maybe the US sports world should do something about the massive doping/steroids problem some of their own players have.
http://www.japanprobe.com James

Karina:

There are tons of beer commercials on American TV, but as you say, they are not allowed to actually drink the beer in the commercials. If you’ve ever been to a MLB game, you’d find that a significant portion of the audience is drinking beer, and that overpriced stadium beer can be a big source of revenue for teams. However, there are vocal groups out there who would be quite angry if they saw MLB players drinking beer on TV, regardless of the reality that many players, like most Americans, occasionally enjoy alcoholic beverages.
Karina

“However, there are vocal groups out there who would be quite angry if they saw MLB players drinking beer on TV”

Thanks for your reply, but honestly, why would an American fan (I’m not referring to you, just any random American fan) be concerned if Matsuzaka was in a beer advertisement in Japan?
Matsuzaka wasn’t doing anything illegal, it wasn’t an American beer company, and the advertisement is only shown in Japan (well, with the exception of the Internet, but these days you can see all sorts of stuff from around the world online…).

If this was an American beer company, and if it was shown in the US, then maybe some people may have a problem with that.
These people who protest these commercials simply because Matsuzaka is in a beer commercial in a different country have way too much time on their hands.

Being in a beer commercial in Japan doesn’t make Matsuzaka less of a human being, and his endorsements in Japan have nothing to do with whether he can play baseball well or not.
(I’m not a baseball fan necessarily, but this issue just irked me though.)

Hmmm…but I do sort of think it’s not surprising in a country like America for people to act like it’s the end of world simply because Matsuzaka is in a Japanese beer commercial that’s only being shown in Japan.
http://www.japanprobe.com James

Karina:

I don’t think sports fans are the people who would be concerned, but rather television viewers who might not like baseball but are obsessed with maintaining the morality of TV regarding beer. I doubt anyone knew about the beer commercial with Matsuzaka and complained about it, but rather the Red Sox organization found out about the commercial and decided to do some damage control in advance. Such commercials might be OK in Japan, but the kind of people who would get angry about them would likely not believe in the idea of different countries having different ideas about the acceptability of beer-drinking in commercials. In this age of YouTube, celebrities will have to be careful about the effect commercials they make abroad may have on nutcases back in the states, I’m afraid….
wes

from your original post i figured the main offense was wearing a red sox uniform while being shown drinking beer(although now that i watched it, it shows him in normal clothes while actually drinking). like a police officer in uniform going to a strip club or something, it’s not illegal or wrong but being in the uniform means you have a certain standard to live up to that’s different than when not representing the team or organization while wearing normal clothes.

and i thought the sports world was doing something about steroids? they even had a congressional hearing about that crap didn’t they? and who’s to say that using steroids is bad? is it worse than drinking beer? by whose judgement?
http://www.transpacificradio.com Kenzo

Karina:

why would an American fan (I’m not referring to you, just any random American fan) be concerned if Matsuzaka was in a beer advertisement in Japan?

You seem confused. The fans don’t care. The Boston Red Sox, MLB and the MLBPA care because it’s maybe in violation of his contractual agreements with those groups and their rules, which all players have to abide by, whether those rules are crazy or not.
Rith

It’s probably only a big deal since some other players complained and bitched because they can’t get domestic beer endorsement contracts.
Karina

“and i thought the sports world was doing something about steroids? they even had a congressional hearing about that crap didn’t they? and who’s to say that using steroids is bad? is it worse than drinking beer? by whose judgement? ”

I’m just saying it’s a double standard to have players use stereoids (even if it was in the past), but for so many Americans to protest beer.
Maybe Americans can’t get over the fact that it’s 2007, not prohibition era- 1920s.
Maybe Americans are really that prudish and living in the 17th century, not the 21st century.
Maybe they are just jealous that their players can’t get big advertising deals.
Maybe they just have way too much time on their hands.
Maybe they want to push their prudish advertising standards onto Japanese advertising.

That’s just my thoughts.
the overthinker

Do actors in Japanese beer commercials REALLY drink beer? This could be an issue if many takes are required – how well could they perform after two dozen takes of the “glug glug glug” scene? I’d be prepared to wager they drink either non-alcohol beer or some liquid made to look like beer.
wes

it’s not a double standard for people to illegally and secretly use steroids when only a few americans protest beer. i don’t see any evidence of “so many americans” protesting beer anywhere.

and the double standard is acting like steroids should be banned but that there is nothing unhealthy about beer.
JPlife

this brings to mind the commercials here with japanese children drinking those nonalcoholic beers & wines yelling KANPAI! (that jingle is so annoying) … and i have to go against the Red Soxs “whine” on this one … 1. it was before he signed on 2. its here on JAPAN TV! 3. the Red Sox mgmnt. or fans shouldnt have any say about JP commercials (unless its about someone committing murder or some such – then thats a whole different “dept.” of people .. NOT baseball) 4. they are just jealous they are not getting revenues from it 5. the Red Sox are missing a possible free advert off this showing here in JP thus maybe sparking a few more fans over here … meh, now im even more “not a Red Sox fan” and will buy an Asahi beer today to show my support of how SILLY this issue was/is.
dollarbill

I just saw a Michael Johnson Coors Light Beer commerical while watching the Spurs/Suns game 3 on ABC. He was drinking a beer in the commerical. I thought that was illegal?

The Boston Red Sox are not fans of Matsuzaka's beer commercial

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