The 1968 Social Uprising and Advertising Design in Japan: The Work of Ishioka Eiko and Suzuki Hachirō

1968 was a turning point in Japanese postwar history: that year, Japan achieved the distinction of becoming the second-largest economy in the world, a feat that was perceived as close to a miracle by economists in Japan and around the world. Moreover, the new status of Japan in the international arena following the 1964 Tokyo Olympics – as it looked toward Osaka Expo ‘70 – instilled many urbanites, members of the civil service, and white collar workers with a sense of optimism and a strengthened desire to forget, repress, and leave behind the traumas of war. However, that same year, violent student and counterculture riots that began on university campuses spread, sparking nationwide social protests, and the Diet building, the prime minister’s office, and the American embassy were surrounded each day by thousands of demonstrators who opposed and challenged Japan’s democratic institutions. Questioning and reassessing Japan’s national identity at a time of political and economic change seemed fitting in a year that marked the centennial of the Meiji restoration. The aim of this paper is to present the influence of these social, economic, and political events on the work of key figures within advertising design in Japan in the late 1960s and 1970s by examining the new types of messages that were imbued in the form of branding techniques that appeared in advertising posters.1