2023 年 30 巻 p. 61-74
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.