After getting complaints from customers about a TV commercial that depicted racist stereotyping, Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways apologized on Monday and said that it was modifying the ad, Agence France-Presse reported.
Aimed at promoting its beefed up schedule of international flights from Tokyo's Haneda airport in March, ANA started airing the new 30-second television advertisement on Saturday.
According to AFP, two Japanese men in ANA uniform discuss in English how they might boost the image of the airline as an international carrier in the commercial.
"Let's change the image of Japanese people," one of them remarks. "Sure," replies the other, who is now wearing a blonde wig and an improbably long rubber nose.
White westerners are often believed in Japan to have big noses, blue eyes and blonde hair, characteristics generally thought desirable among Japanese, AFP reported. The ad caused a stir among English-language users of social media in Japan.
"I've just seen the new ANA advert... Really? ANA think this is OK?!" Angela Fukutome said in a message posted on ANA's Facebook page.
"If you are a foreigner and have planned to come to #Japan, do not choose an openly racist airline like #ANA! Watch their Japanese commercial," tweeted @sibylleito on Twitter.
The carrier's intention upon releasing the commercial was to express the importance of the planned expansion of international services from Haneda and to call on Japanese to go out to see the world, ANA spokesman Rosie Nomura said.
"But we have received opinions different from the message that we wished to convey," he said. "We will modify part of the advertisement and will release the second version soon."
After being criticized, the original TV spot, which was initially aired from Saturday through Monday, has now been pulled for now, he said.
Earlier, an ANA spokeswoman acknowledged the carrier "has received calls from customers, mostly foreigners, complaining about the ad."
"We apologized to each of the customers for having caused uncomfortable feelings and also thanked them for bringing up the issue," she told AFP.
Japan is largely racially homogenous, with relatively small immigrant communities, AFP reported.
