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Video Game Advertising In Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom
By Juan-David Vega
3707601

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Introduction
It is a challenging task for many people to research and outline the culture of entire countries.
Cultures, like nations, are an active, dynamic, and pervasive force in a person's mind. Cultural values
can either bind nations together or isolate them from each other when immediate association cannot.
China and India, for instance, although sharing a border with each other, have cultures that are
extremely distinct from one another, and prevent them from relating to one another outside of a
professional environment; on the other hand, the United States and the United Kingdom are separated
by the Atlantic Ocean, yet share a language and cultural values, and thus are very close allies.
Although connections can be made between nations and their cultures, it becomes a more
difficult prospect when there is only one point of interest to choose from. How, then, is one to not only
summarize each culture, but also discuss the multiple contrasts and comparisons between them? There
is a popular saying among English speakers: You are what you eat. In modern times, much can be
discerned about a culture from observing the advertisements produced and displayed for popular
products in those countries.
What makes advertising a good choice for cultural analysis and comparison? Indeed, an
advertisement in the strictest and most basic sense needs only to display a product or service for sale,
inform the consumer of what it does, and tell them to buy it. However, advertisements such as these
seldom ever work, nor do they need to in order to fulfill their purpose. If you saw an advertisement for
a certain coffee machine and the ad simply said I make coffee! Buy Me!, would you? Not likely, as
the product didn't appeal to you even with knowing what it does. Conversely, many advertisements
show nothing but a single image, or a few scant seconds of video, and yet they entice viewers to seek
out more information on the product and create a desire for the product. Why is this? Why are
advertisements so inconsistent? Why do some products sell better in one country than in another? The
key is in leaving a lasting impression on the viewer, so that the message and product will remain
encoded as a meme, persistently compelling them to buy the product.
This paper will place its focus on the subject of video game advertising and the cultural values
displayed in them. The advertisements used for this analysis will originate from Japan, the United
States, and the United Kingdom. This coincides with international sales figures, in which the
previously states countries are three of the largest consumers and producers of video games in the
world. Although video games are developed for people of all ages, the majority of video games in the
past had clearly been developed with a child-to-young-adult demographic in mind. In the past decade,
however, the majority consumer demographic for video games has increased such that the average
gamer is approximately 30 years of age and 63% are under the age of 36 (ESA 2012: 2). This presents a
unique challenge to sellers, as the younger generations are more attuned to popular culture and have
more rapidly changing tastes and preferences than older adults and the elderly. As a result, video game
marketers are uniquely challenged to advertise games in such a manner that the advertisement will be
more positively received by their target audience.

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The Video Game Industry

Within the entertainment industry, video games are a recent newcomer competing against film and
music for the minds and wallets of consumers. Video games first became a commercial entity with
Atari's release of Pong arcade cabinets in 1971 (Lipson and Brain, 2009: 9). Nintendo released the
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985, following the video game crash of 1983, which not
only revitalized the video game industry outside of Japan, but also, along with other, later-released
Japanese consoles, assured Japanese dominance in the video game industry for the next two decades
until the release of Microsoft's Xbox in 2001 (Flew and Humphreys, 2005). Meanwhile, Europe began
developing its computer game industry. According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA),
the video game industry has increased in value dramatically in the past few years in the United States
alone: from 6.9 billion dollars in 2005, to increasing to 9.5 billion in 2007, and when last measured,
was making a profit of upwards to 24.75 billion dollars in 2011 (2011: 10-11). PricewaterhouseCoopers
reports in 2010, the largest markets in the global video game industry were
Table 1: Leading Video Game Markets by Revenue
Country
Profit (in billions of dollars)
USA
13.6
Japan
7
China
6.8
South Korea
5
UK
3.7

Due to the the game industry in China and South Korea being largely insular, computer-based, and
lacking internationally successful game developing companies, the focus will be on the US, UK, and
Japan.

Methods
The purpose of this paper is to ascertain how advertisements are effective in selling products, in this
case, video games, and how they adapt different marketing strategies for different cultures. For this,
eighteen different video game commercials were observed from three different countries; six for each
country. The videos were obtained via the Internet, primarily YouTube. In order to assure the most
conclusive study, and to prevent redundancy, only commercials of video games produced in that
country are to be featured for that particular nation. In this manner, we can see even more of the
cultural values inherent in the video games first hand.
After obtaining the commercial videos, they will be reviewed and assessed based on a wide number of
values advertised within the video. These values, both practical and cultural, are essential in enticing
viewers to become interested in their product and purchase it. Practical values being assessed are
humor, violence, presence of the player, and gameplay; cultural values being assessed are community,
militarism, competition, and music. After assessment of each commercial based on each category, each
country will be given a percentage score based on its total likelihood or propensity to use a certain
value in its message for a video game. At the end of the study, further analysis will look into how each
value coincides with national characteristics in each country to see as to why each value was used or

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not used to explain the choice and appeal.

Results
Product Values
Product Value: Humor
A commercial was judged to be of an humorous nature if it contained cognitive situations and
experiences for the purpose of either provoking laughter or providing amusement. Those commercials
that were not humorous were shown in a serious or sombre tone. Almost all Japanese video game
commercials were found to be of an humorous and light-hearted nature, and British commercials were
also more often than not amusing; American commercials were the inverse of the findings of those of
the British, with a majority of video game commercials being of a serious nature.
Table 2: Humor
Japan
Present
Not Present

USA
83%
17%

UK
33%
67%

67%
33%

Product Value: Violence

Many video games contain violence at varying levels; some more graphic than others. As a result,
regulatory organizations such as the ESRB have separate classifications for the intensity of violence
present in a game. For the purpose of this paper, commercials were labeled as being violent under the
official definition used by the ESRB: scenes involving aggressive conflict. Violence was predominant
in a majority of American video game commercials. Violent and non-violent video game commercials
were shown in equal amount in the United Kingdom. In Japan, violence was in the extreme minority,
and the results corresponded directly to the tone of the advertisement in the commercial (i.e. nonviolent video games were presented as Humor, whereas the single violent video game was presented as
Serious).
Table 3: Violence

Japan

Present
Not Present

USA
17%
83%

UK
67%
33%

50%
50%

Product Value: Presence of the Player

Commercials were tested on this value based on whether or not a player or metaphoric member of the
audience were present and were the central focus of the advertisement. The category was also based
on whether the person was interacting with the game as a gamer (playing a game as an electronic) or as
a participant (playing as though the game was real). Games without the presence of a player focused
instead on the content of the game itself, or the central character of the video game. Concerning the
matter of whether a being in a video game is a character or an extension of the player, a person in a
commercial is judged as being a player or extension of the player if there was a clear acknowledgement

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of his or her surroundings being part of the game, or of his or her surroundings being influenced by the
game. From these results, it was found that of the three countries, only Japan depicted games as played
by a player in any significant number. Figures were more scattered for the British video game
commercials, with half depicting games and players in a participant context, and a third without any
players present. The United States demonstrated the most extreme results, as not a single commercial
involved gamers playing the video game themselves. Instead, the majority of commercials had no
outside influences and focused entirely on the characters of the games instead; the remaining third of
commercials involved players in a participatory role withing the game.
Table 4: Presence of the Player
Japan

Gamer
Participant
Not Present

USA

66%
17%
17%

UK
0%
33%
67%

17%
50%
33%

Product Value: Gameplay

The fourth and final product value compared across all commercials, gameplay, was taken to see
whether or not a commercial displayed actual content of the video game or not. Many modern video
game commercials are advertised in one of these two ways: the gameplay displayed in a commercial is
used to capture the viewer's interest, or little to no gameplay is shown and interest is instead gained
through the cinematography of the commercial. Examples of use of gameplay in a video game
commercial include both a trailer of the video game (video consisting of a string of excerpts taken from
the game itself), or images of a person playing the game on their respective console. Video game
commercials from Japan and the United Kingdom both displayed uniformity in their use of gameplay
to advertise games, while most commercials from the United States preferred using high budget
cinematography to promote their games.
Table 5: Gameplay

Japan

Present
Not Present

USA
67%
33%

UK
33%
67%

67%
33%

Cultural Values
Cultural Value: Community
A sense of community in video game commercials was measured by examining a number of variables:
1. Whether or not cooperative play was encouraged.
2. Does the commercial foster a feeling of belonging within the viewer?
3. Does the game itself contain values of community within its gameplay or story?
Half of the commercials used in the American sample had community values; in the United Kingdom,
the number was closer to one third. Most surprising of all, among these commercials, the highest
percentage that appealed to viewers using community came from Japan, with a staggering 100% of all
commercials advertised making use of the value as defined by the above variables.

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Table 6: Community
Japan

Present
Not Present

USA
100%
0%

UK
50%
50%

33%
67%

Cultural Value: Militarism

Militarism as a cultural value is one that places emphasis on and idolizes the military, armed conflict,
and warfare. For this study, a commercial is deemed to be taking advantage of militarism if the
advertisement contains depictions of soldiers, weapons of war, or armed conflict in any circumstance.
This pattern was most evident in video game commercials from the United States, with five out of six
commercials not only applying militarist values, but making heavy use of them. Commercials of the
United Kingdom followed next, trailing behind with only half of commercials seen using any militarist
values; when they were used, it was not to as significant a degree as the American commercials. Lastly
came Japan, with not a single video game commercial of Japanese origin containing any values of
militarism whatsoever.
Table 7: Militarism
Japan

Present
Not Present

USA
0%
100%

UK
83%
17%

50%
50%

Cultural Value: Competition

Tying into the cultural value of community, competition is a value that promotes contests of ability and
skill between individuals in order for one to obtain resources, prestige, or wealth, in contrast to the
communal emphasis on working alongside one another towards a common goal. In order for a
commercial to be considered to be advocating competition, it must depict such competition between
two or more human players. Surprisingly, there was a more even distribution of competitiveness among
the three countries, with the United States and Japan tying with half of their video game commercials
respectively showcasing a competitive value. The United Kingdom's commercials trailing in a close
second with a third of their commercials being competitive in nature.
Table 8: Competition
Japan

Present
Not Present

USA
50%
50%

UK
50%
50%

33%
67%

Cultural Value: Music

Music as a cultural value in this analysis is determined to be relevant in each instance when it plays a
significant role in the performance of the commercial, adding emotional depth that would not be
present in the advertisement otherwise. By far, the country that made the most use of music in their
video game commercials was the United States, which involved music as an integral part of all six of
the ads shown. Japan made use of essential music value in its video game commercials four times out
of six. The country that made the least use of music in its video game commercials was the United
Kingdom, with only one third of its commercials containing music that added significantly to its

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appeal.
Table 9: Music

Japan

Significant
Not Significant

USA
67%
33%

UK
100%
0%

33%
67%

Analysis
As was clearly demonstrated in the study, the countries if Japan, United States, and United
Kingdom varied greatly in their value value-messaging campaigns to advertise their video games.
Humor proved to be a very successful and prevalent strategy in Japan, a country that has practiced
nonviolence and disarmament for over half a century. Although Japan's popular video game franchises
are popular among people of all ages around the world, the target demographic for many of their games
are still children. As such, video game commercials are kept in a light-hearted tone. In keeping with
Japan's pacifist nature, very few game commercials show any kind of violence, and on the occasions
when they do, it is typically violence of a fantasy or martial arts nature, and not overly intense or
graphic. Japan is a country that values straightforwardness, and so, rather than being told that a game is
good, it is preferable to let the audience see someone play a game and witness their excitement. In life
and in its work ethic, Japan looks favorably on simplicity and efficiency. In this manner, Japanese
marketers prefer a short and simple video of the game itself and its features and capabilities rather than
spend millions of dollars on a lavish, high-production cinematic. Japan is an extremely conformist
society that does not tolerate those who step away from the group. As such, many Japanese video
games feature some kind of social connectivity to keep people interactive. Lastly, music plays a very
large role in video games in Japan, as many of Japan's top franchises have become world famous icons
for over twenty years; the music playing in a commercial is often the famous theme music that makes
the game instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with the game series, who are often the best
customers.
In contrast to Japan, many of America's video game commercials take on a serious tone rather
than an upbeat one. The majority-average gamer in America is someone in their late 20s to mid 30s. In
contrast to Japan, where happy videos sell well with children, advertising something of that nature, and
towards children, ensures that the older audience will be turned off, as Americans are usually
compelled by society to be mature, and playing childish games is a source of ridicule. America is
nothing if not a country accustomed to violence; whether it be domestic or otherwise. Americans are
repeatedly exposed to violent scenes and imagery on the news, and the entertainment media of film and
music frequently idealize violence as a valiant struggle for your goals. Americans are not like Japanese:
Americans are fiercely independent and are not content with watching someone else play a game. To
them, they would like to be immersed and part of the game, but would much prefer seeing more game
action instead, characteristic of a short attention span typical of Americans. America is the world's
leader in entertainment in almost every aspect, but especially in film. Americans are accustomed to
grand displays of cinema and expect no less from their video games, whose commercials are often
budgeted in the tens of millions. This admiration of and experience with Hollywood also explains why
American video game commercials so expertly manage to evoke the most stunning emotions in the
viewer. Competition is greatly valued, as it is believed it brings out the best in people and fosters
growth and progress not only with each other, but in society.

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The United Kingdom seems to be stuck in the middle between the traditional values of Japan
and America: not as collectivist or tranquil as the Japanese, yet still not as individualistic or violent as
Americans. The British are famous for their wit and sophisticated sense of humor, and it is reflected in
their media, which pokes fun at both itself and the viewer simultaneously. The United Kingdom,
although peaceful now, has had a rich history as a global empire, and takes pride even to this day in its
resistance in WWII. Violence is by no means idolized, nor is the military glorified to the extent that it is
in the US, but neither are they shied away from as in Japan. Brits have shown to favor immersion in
their environments and control over their surroundings, but are not quite keen on direct confrontation
with one another, with the exception of Britain's most popular sport: soccer (or football, as Europeans
prefer to call it). Such is typical of the leisurely, laissez-faire attitude very common among Europeans,
preferring to settle disputes with sport and wit than fist and gun.