Nothing beats a good commercial that promotes a convention to get you hyped up for it. However, not all commercials are so successful, and the most infamous convention commercial ever is the one for Sakura-Con 2009. It still generates waves of cringe just thinking about it over a decade later.
What is the Sakura-Con 2009 Commercial?
The commercial begins with a table full of white folks enjoying Japanese food. Everything seems hunky-dory, until one of them starts talking. "I love sushi!" she states. Other patrons chime in with their own Japan-obsessed banter, with the awkwardness increasing as each person adds to the conversation.
The cringe explodes into sheer face-scrunching pain as a goth-like fellow leans out from the table and yells out "GIRUGAMESH!" Girugamesh is actually the name of a Japanese "visual kei" rock band which performed at Sakura Con 2009, but this commercial made no effort to explain that to unsuspecting non-weebs seeing this cringiness on local TV.
At the end of the commercial, the Japanese sushi chef observing the whole ordeal cuts them off and shouts, in Japanese: "Get your butts to Sakura-Con!"
Why It's a Meme
Although made with good intentions with the purpose of promoting a fun event, the commercial became a meme for its sheer cringe value. The scene where the goth-looking fellow shouts out "Girugamesh" has been remade into various remixes, with one video fusing the iconic quote with a techno remix of "Sparta."
It's not just the "Girugamesh" scene that's subject to heavy mockery: there are other scenes in the commercial that are heavily parodied. In one scene, when the table attendees are talking about aspects of Japanese culture they like, a bespectacled man screams out "...and GAMING!" which is so exaggerated, that it sounds like he is saying "GAYming."
Why It's Awful
The commercial's meme-heavy legacy is connected not just to its unintentional comedic value, but to deeper problematic elements. It sums up every aspect that Japanese citizens find annoying about gaijin fans of their culture. Instead of treating Japanese culture and traditions with any level of respect and dignity, the commercial becomes something of a sick parody of weeaboos who mindlessly fetishize Japan. It takes the worst parts of a fandom and transforms it into an amalgamated Frankenstein's monster of embarrassment.
The cherry on top of this whole embarassing ordeal is the fact that the commercial was directed by the disgraced voice actor Vic Mignogna. Mignogna's career pretty much ended in 2019, when a number of sexual assault allegations were leveled at him by both fans and fellow voice actors, such as Monica Rial and Jamie Marchi. To have a commercial that paints anime fans in a bad light, directed by an alleged sexual offender, just adds an unsettling feeling to the whole thing.