Abstract
Product advertising can evoke negative emotions in the human mind. The theme of
this paper, “SNS flame war,” originates from posts by people who feel offended or
discomfort at the appearance of products or expressions in advertising media. The
person who sparks a flame war posts text about what is wrong with the product/
advertisement expression along with an image of the object he or she finds offensive
or uncomfortable. What, then, are the mental mechanisms of those who activate a
mode of criticism/attack on SNS? This paper analyzes four cases of flame wars caused
by product appearance and advertising displays: Prada’s “blackface issue,” H&MGB’s “racism issue,” Dior’s “racism issue,” and IKEA Japan’s “gender roles issue,” and
elucidates the mechanism by which information obtained from viewing products and
advertisements creates a sense of offense or discomfort in the human mind, which in
turn, generates the emotion of anger.
