Made in Japan

Obviously this ad was banned. Obviously. The pitch for the idea of a beer made in Japan was that they had to take an angle of humor and that they (non Japanese at the head of this project) really never intended to hurt anyone.

It can all be jokes and laughter id the object of your amusement is ok with it. Racism at its worst is when it is expressed on such a grande scale as beer advertising- something that would have obviously ended up on a lot of billboards in a lot of different countries, had it not been banned.

This kind of thing doesn't just upset people who can spot racist tendencies in ads, it also soils a company's reputation. When audiences see this, they come to a conclusion in their mind that will be far from what you had initially wanted to express. They will not take the company seriously, jeopardizing any chance of them to come back with a better ad. Racism is a dangerous thing, it can lead people to do terrible, hurtful things. Don't promote it, not even involuntarily, like this advertisement.