What Lies Behind the Vending Machine
Dear Dr. S., thank you for your notification. May I add a sidenote to my complaint about the ad, please? Hornbach asserts that the ad refers to the 'fetish-vending machine' which allegedly existed in Japan. For your information: German daily newspaper FAZ reported on April 2, 2019 that there was once an attempt to install such a vending machine in Japan, yet the authority intervened and removed it right away. The fetish-vending machine is "an urban myth." (https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/baumarktkette-hornbach-erntet-rassismusvorwuerfe-fuer-werbespot-16119551.html) Even if such a vending machine might be in Japan, however, its existence cannot be an excuse for representing Asian women in such a defaming way. Here are three reasons why: 1. European media often picks up something "gross" and "unusual" when representing Asian culture, which is only a marginal phenomenon in Asian countries . As a result, such media products encourages recipient...
