"Chubby?" You keep using that word! I do not think it means what you think it does.

[Queen Michael]

First things first: I'm not getting the quote wrong, I'm quoting the novel. I have no intention to disrespect the excellent movie, but I prefer to quote the book.

Now on to our main story, the Japanese band called Chubbiness.

No, that's not the wrong picture. This is for some reason marketed as a band that's meant to appeal to chubby-chaisng guys. I am one of those guy, and I can promise you that these girls, though pretty, are not what I'd call sexy. And not only because I'm 26 and they look 14.

Spoiler: Here is what I like. It is slightly NSFW, but no worse that you might see on the beach.

So, what are your thoughts about this false advertising?

EDIT: An answer to this post indicated that this band is just advertising a restaurant by the name of Chubbiness. Any additional info about this from anybody that speaks Japanese would be very appreciated.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Not so much false advertising, but...

Well, it's a big thing to say "fat is beautiful"...just you don't want to actually have fat people involved in that.

So you get someone not anorexic and pretend it's the same thing.

 

[Eleuthera]

From that picture I'd call them skinny to average, though the all white clothing makes it somewhat difficult to see where one girl ends and another begins.

I'd call it bad marketing rather than false advertising. It's like calling yourself a fish-restaurant and only selling beef. Yes, completely wrong, but at least your customers can see that for themselves before ordering.

 

[madwarper]

This is for some reason marketed as a band that's meant to appeal to chubby-chaisng guys.

Because, I went to their website [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://avex.jp/chubbiness/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dchubbiness%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D641] and they were advertising the opening of the second "Chubby" restaurant [http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dchubbiness%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D641&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=ja&u=http://avex.jp/chubbiness/index.php%3Fa%3Dnews_detail%26id%3D1012109&usg=ALkJrhhL9yp01gTomacqSbn2Kz37ijco9w].

Greetings! !

Our restaurant Chubbiness Produce "Chubby's" second shop will do OPEN Shibuya Hikarie for a limited time! !

Healthy delicious × × satiety offers to you the dishes of theme and Chubby's!

Someone who does not have appetite in summer heat!
It's a diet, but those who want to eat rice full stomach!

Please visit us! ! We Chubbiness members also awaits you at the shop! !

Third floor Shibuya Hikarie underground Location:
Hours: 10:00 to 21:00 (planned)
******************
※ "Chubby's" first store Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 1-9-5 Otemachi Financial City North Tower 1F

As far as I can tell, this would be like the Japanese division of the trashbag brand "Hefty" hiring a similar group of singers to advertise their product.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Why does that look like a photofit of at least 2 different women?

I 'unno, something about the lighting.

 

[Batou667]

So, what are your thoughts about this false advertising?

I suppose to an extent we could chalk it up to some hardcore cultural relativism? While all those girls are thin by American standards, a few of them probably would be considered too chubby for your typical J-pop or K-pop girl ensemble.

 

[Here Comes Tomorrow]

I think they'd be considered chubby by japanese standards.

Your example of what chubby is, is incredibly photoshopped.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Like the above user said, those Japanese girls would be chubby by Japanese standards.
Your second picture may or may not be photoshopped but she looks pretty fat to me. Look at those arms and legs. They're a good 50% fat each. Chubby to me is 25% or 30% fat, tops.

 

[Jadak]

Too hard to tell on the group of girls, what they're wearing is not at all revealing, and they're packing in too tight to get a clear look at anything more than heads and some arms. That said, they don't look fat, but they also do not look super skinny. So, hard to tell where exactly they'd fall on a scale, but I'd still guess them around average rather than chubby.

The second girl is just fat, too fat for 'chubby' to really be an adequate term.

And as a side note, it is certain that the band uses the term 'chubby' in reference to weight, rather than say, a reference to a certain physical effect they may give men.

 

[giles]

It's... really hard to say from that picture. Also madwarper's post (and dat google translation ("It's a diet, but those who want to eat rice full stomach!"???).

I'm really posting because of that second picture, though. No offense, but that's some kind of photoshop or disease and it's freaking me out. That doesn't look normal.

And as a side note, it is certain that the band uses the term 'chubby' in reference to weight, rather than say, a reference to a certain physical effect they may give men.

Is that also what the restaurant refers to, then? What kind of fucked up place is that?

 

[Foolery]

Eh. It's Japan. For someone who's read 3,331 manga books, you should be used to these kinds of shenanigans by now.
The trendy name for plus size gals in Japan is 'marshmallow girls' which is far kinder than calling them 'debu' or fatso, basically. The band is taking advantage of that and somewhat poking fun with it at the same time. Like a pun, kinda.

These are marshmallow girls.

Spoiler

 

[briankoontz]

It's pretty creepy to like someone based on how they look. If you like them based on their weight or percent of body fat what happens when they gain or lose weight - breakup time?

It's kind of like a robot programmed a specific way - "You have moved outside my desire parameters. Goodbye."

 

[Qwurty2.0]

It's pretty creepy to like someone based on how they look. If you like them based on their weight or percent of body fat what happens when they gain or lose weight - breakup time?

It's kind of like a robot programmed a specific way - "You have moved outside my desire parameters. Goodbye."

Relationships are a bit more complicated than that...

 

[Charli]

Looking at how Japan typically markets the ideal female, to them? That is chubby. I no kidding, observe their cheeks, facial fat, and bodies, arms in particular, this is a slight deviation in convention but it is one. You have to recognize that cultures will have different standards of description just as individuals will. Most of their girls do look alot 'younger' to us, especially how they dress and act.

And yeah to us? That's not even remotely 'chubby'. I'm sure most in the western world would agree.

But... To them... this is what I suppose they'd deem 'chubby'.

And heck knowing their metabolism and quite a few ladies from Japan personally they must have had to work at that.

 

[visiblenoise]

Your example of what you like is a...weird looking example. I wouldn't hesitate to agree that her midsection could be called "chubby," but the rest is just fat, no getting around it.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

It's pretty creepy to like someone based on how they look. If you like them based on their weight or percent of body fat what happens when they gain or lose weight - breakup time?

It's kind of like a robot programmed a specific way - "You have moved outside my desire parameters. Goodbye."

To some degree, yeah, it's possible, but you seem to be assuming that the way the person looks is the ONLY thing that you like about someone, and not factoring in their personality. But, we don't get to pick and choose what physically attracts us to other people any more than we get to pick and choose what our favorite foods are, and when you've lost physical attraction to someone and it doesn't look like it's ever coming back, it's possible it might end the relationship (certainly wouldn't be the first time).

 

[Colour Scientist]

I wouldn't call any of the women in the OP chubby.

The first group of girls look average or even thin and the woman in the second picture is obese.

 

[DefunctTheory]

The Asians are chubby (Contain more fat then the cultural 'ideal,' but not so much to have graduated to being actually obese). The second picture you posted is either hilariously photoshoped, or is of a women who is not only obese, but needs to kick her extreme corset habit too.

 

[Olas]

I'm also one of those "chubby chasing guys" and I find the second picture rather creepy and unnatural looking. It reminds me of the Amazonian from Dragon's Crown just less muscly. Her neck and hands look way too skinny for the rest of her body and she doesn't seem to have a stomach, her waist leading right into her chest.

As for the Asian girls in the first picture? I'm pretty sure in the US they'd be seen as almost ideal. There ARE plus size models in Japan who would be considered overweight for a model even over here, it's just a very very small niche thing.

It's pretty creepy to like someone based on how they look. If you like them based on their weight or percent of body fat what happens when they gain or lose weight - breakup time?

It's kind of like a robot programmed a specific way - "You have moved outside my desire parameters. Goodbye."

Are you suggesting that sexual attraction is not a factor in a relationship? It's not the ONLY factor, but it definitely isn't irrelevent.