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‘Perverse’ ad featuring woman who turns into an eel pulled in Japan after criticism for sexism

A local government ad promoting the eel industry in Japan has been pulled after protests of sexism and demeaning women in social media.

Japan ad eel woman transformation

The bizarre two-minute commercial for Shibushi city on the island of Kyushu begins with a girl in a swimming pool who asks to be fed before eventually transforming into an eel.

The girl is fed over the course of a year before metamorphosing into the fish she is promoting, which is later seen swimming in the pool after the woman says goodbye.

The film is narrated by a man who intones how he tried his best to nurture her through her development. “I fed her delicious food until she was full, and allowed her to get plenty of sleep,” he said.

The ad soon cuts to an image of eel cooking on a barbeque.

Among the criticism of the ad in social media was that it was “perverse”.

“We’re aware that some people were offended,” a government official told AFP. “We just wanted to make a video that simply explains the city is known for eel farming.”

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