Almost fifty years have passed since commercials first appeared on Japanese television. Early on, television commercials were recognized as powerful tools for marketing consumer products and the media industry has produced innumerable messages that work on Japanese consumer psychology. Because these commercials couple impressive visual images with their messages and are aired repeatedly many are committed to memory by their viewers. For the generation growing up with television, these television commercials have become a culture or at least part of the culture in which they live. Many of the older commercials can be designated ""classics"" because of their cultural impact. Television commercials having clear marketing motives reflect the material culture of the period in which they are made. Also, commercials have formed much of the information culture with their messages and communication style. Simply stated, they are the nexus of material and information culture. The academic analysis of commercials has been limited to marketing research or cultural criticism. Some reasons for their limited usage were a lack of archives and because of this a difficulty in searching and browsing them. Nichibunken has been developing a moving image database of Japanese television commercials. The aim of this team research project is to create new perspectives and methods for the cultural studies of commercials using the archive created here and other materials available.

代表者	山田　奨治	国際日本文化研究センター研究部・助教授
Organizer	佐藤　卓己	国際日本文化研究センター研究部・助教授
Team Researcher	赤間　　亮	立命館大学文学部・教授
〃	落合恵美子	京都大学大学院文学研究科・助教授
〃	高野　光平	東京大学大学院人文社会系研究科・博士課程
〃	難波　功士	関西学院大学社会学部・助教授
〃	濱崎　好治	川崎市市民ミュージアム・学芸員
〃	井上　章一	国際日本文化研究センター研究部・教授
〃	稲賀　繁美	国際日本文化研究センター研究部・助教授
〃	白石　さや	東京大学大学院教育学研究科　　国際日本文化研究センター研究部 ・教授客員教授