Japan cm of the week - Atsuko Maeda downs a beer!

In this week's Sapporo Beer commercial we have ex-AKB48 center Atsuko Maeda (前田敦子) showing she ain't a kid no more by having a nice cold beer. Here is a link to Sapporo's other beer commercials. One thing I've always loved about beer commercials in Japan is that they show people actually drinking beer and enjoying it, and they don't ham it up with stupid extra social baggage.

Yes, they used to have the same thing(ish) in the US but for the most part beer ads back home present some stupid joke, try to sell the idea that if you drink a lot you'll get to bang a bunch of hot chicks, or show rich/popular/fun people being rich/popular/fun because of their beer. It all sends a message that's juvenile, asinine and demeaning at the same time, and tries to tell the audience that drinking a beer is something that'll make them happy and feel alive and young, but also that that is something they should be ashamed of and that once they enter the real world of adulthood they won't be able to enjoy it any more.

This commercial just makes me want to have a beer. And enjoy it.