Japan + High Context Culture = Condoms

Everyone knows that Tokyo is the place to be if you are looking for the latest crazy idea and although the idea of packaging condoms to NOT look like condoms is not a new idea, Japan is bringing this pehnomenon to greater heights.

Now, condoms are packaged to look like food products thus if the buyer wishes to purchase the item, they only have to ask for a certain 'snack'. Different 'snacks' refer to different types of condoms thus one will have to be careful what 'snack' they choose because it may be an entirely different product altogether.



Japan is an Asian country and most Asian countries have soft-spoken cultures thus Japan, like other Asian countries, have high context cultures. Sex may no longer be a conversational taboo like 10 years ago but buying a condom in a provison shop still is. When buying such an item, it is best to be subtle because the explicit communication style is deem to be coarse and vulgar in such a scenario. The asking party (source) uses restricted codes and contextual cues to put across the message and the receptionist (receiver) is equally subtle about it.

Actually such an intriging idea has been exising for quite a while, it is just that no one really put the idea down to work. Here are some 'drafts'. Enjoy. =D



Using tasteful snack slogans to create flavourful condoms

China Hitting Headlines Everywhere, Including My Blog

China has been hitting the headlines these recent months for all the right and the wrong reasons. First, there was the highly successful Beijing Olympics that blew the world away with awe and fascination. Then was the highly fatal Melamine that blew the world away from China products.


Only thing you can trust about Made-In-China products:
The fortune cookies never tell lies.

Of the 4 media functions, surveillance prevails in this scenario as the media is responsible for gathering and disseminating information to the public. The media sources can easily influence the audience by warning them of crises or dangers, and by giving them the instrumental information they need in order to get through a day. The media acts as the “watchdogs of a free society”, informing us of how Melamine is prevalent in most milk products produced in China and raises our awareness of what to consume and what to avoid. Thus it is irrefutable that the media intrinsically determines a lot of the decisions that we make on our purchases.

This is not the first time that China faced fierce criticisms from consumers of the safety of their products, be it poisoned food, lead-based toys or toddler strangling prams. However, this has to be the first time when the intensity of the censure is so strong. Now, brace yourselves for what may be the most callous and malicious comment that you are going to hear regarding this incident – the reason for the immense repercussion this time round may be due to the fact that Made-In-China products finally managed to kill Made-In-China babies. The waves of China melamine finally hit the shores of home in the form of an unforgiving tsunami, that’s karma coming back for you. Honestly speaking, if this milk scandal did not hit China harder than it hit other consuming countries, China is most likely to still be defensive of their own products (like how they did for the past few times) and allow more foreign consumers to suffer under their unscrupulous money-laundering means.


Anti-Made-In-China-For-The-Chinese:
Boycotting the most evil products of the world

China’s producing industry has been greatly hit by this milk scandal as people now have a greater trepidation of China made products as compared to before. The media not only disseminated this piece of critical information to the public, it also wrecked China’s credibility to pieces. For China to regain the confidence of the consumers in their edible products, they have got a really long way to go. The media was the initial culprit that painted China in very bad light. Thus, as a start, they need to convince the media to put across positive information of their stringent quality controlling standards and they MUST make sure that they really do more to ensure the safety of their products.

The media may be able to control the flow of information through channels. However the receivers will still practise selective exposure as the tendency to avoid the positive news and to seek out the negative news about China products will be dominant. Whether the world will be able to pull through this “contaminated food” era will depend on how media portrays China products in future and how the audience reacts to it.


"Dear Santa, I've been a good girl this year. Can I have a Barbie doll?"
As for me? This is one reason why I choose to be a naughty girl this year.

GroupThink with Halloween

Halloween is round the corner and despite its significance to be lesser than that of Chinese New Year or the recent Deepavali, many do look forward to it. Including me.

Halloween is a festival celebrated on the 31st of October and, as quoted from Wikipedia, "activities include trick-or-treating, ghost tours, bonfires, costume parties, visiting haunted attractions, carving jack-o'-lanterns, reading scary stories and watching horror movies. Of that long list of activities, the one that Singaporeans are more actively participating are the costume parties.

Well... there is a cultural history behind the origination of Halloween but that will hardly ever concern Singapore since it relates to agriculture, a field we do not place a lot of emphasis on. Thus the only reason the youths in Singapore are embracing this festival is most probably due to the fact that for one night, they can dress up (or down, depending on who they are modeling) and act all stupid. If you ask me, I think its all Groupthink.



Groupthink is actually the mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action. In my opinion, this is highly prominent during Halloween because there will be groups of friends who want to dress in a particular manner to achieve optimal costume effect. Girls may want to dress as a house of fairies like Winx Club and boys may want to dress up as a battlion of terrorists or army fugitives. One example can be seen in the above pictures where a trio dressed up as the game blocks for Teris. The togetherness in their costumes may not appeal to one or two members who may prefer uniqueness. However they may practise self-censorship and follow suit just to please the majority because there tends to be pressure on the dissenters. There is an illusion of unanimity as we can clearly from their uniform dressing however there is stifling of personal opinions which we are unable to grasp. Thus it becomes a pity because for all we know, the few personal opinions that are left unsaid may be more eye-catching ideas.

Even though Halloween has hardly any cultural relation to Singapore, let us all embrace this new tradition and just have fun.