Brands Using the Term "Landmine" are Still Promoting the Stereotype, Unfortunately
There is one particular take I've grappled with since I first started this blog: "Brands would never promote something harmful, because _". This is often used as a way to say that the term isn't actually that bad, because look, brands use it!
Well, Travas Tokyo, which has become a hot brand among self-proclaimed landmines, has fully leaned into this new popularity like never before, as they are currently promoting a quiz for "diagnosing" customers with their "landmine type".
You might, at first, read this and think: "Oh so it's just a quiz for assigning styles, right? They're just misusing the term again to mean clothes, right?"
Well. Not exactly.
Now, to say Travas Tokyo is the first to openly promote something involving the stereotype would be an understatement, as other brands and companies, including Larme, have used the stereotype before as a selling point.
So, to find out if that was happening here, I responded to the post to get the questions.
Here are the questions I received, and their responses.
Question 1:
Your significant other is talking to someone of the opposite sex besides you. What do you do?
• I don't mind if they talk to someone else.
• Hey, hey, why are they talking to some worm who isn't me...
• I'll have to lock them up so those worms stay away...
Question 2:
Your significant other hasn't replied to you on LINE... What do you do?
• Do nothing about it.
• Relentlessly spam them with messages and calls.
• Contact your SO's friends
Question 3:
Oh no, the person you love more than anyone else has rejected you. What do you do?
• Honorably move onto the next love.
• I'll keep pursuing them by stalking them over the internet.
• Only a few more times until they become my slave...
And... Here were my results!
Landmine-Type Girl Diagnosis Results
You're a Super-Slight Class C Landmine Girl! ♡
You're a little mischievous and are just setting foot into the landmine-type. Here is a landmine coordinate that suits you.
Now, the link to the coordinate wouldn't load for me, so I guess I will never know what coordinate suits my "landmine type".
It should also be mentioned that the result I got here is the most mild response you can get, as you're able to re-answer as much as you'd like to see the other responses. So I did that, and here's the other two results.
Landmine-Type Girl Diagnosis Results
You're a Moderate Class B+ Landmine Girl! ♡
You're someone who holds deep passion for the one you love, and can't stop thinking about them. Here is a landmine coordinate that suits you.
Landmine-Type Girl Diagnosis Results
You're a Super-Serious Class S Landmine Girl! ♡
You would give yourself for the one you love. Here is a landmine coordinate that suits you.
Now is a good time to remember that brands like Travas are catering to an audience of mostly teens, which makes things like this a bit unnerving. Especially since the post advertising the quiz makes it seem like it's a lighthearted quiz about fashion, when the questions are obviously about being a toxic "type" of person. It's a Buzzfeed-level quality quiz for issues that are much more serious.
To put it into perspective, imagine if a brand with a large teenage audience in the west did something like this. Like if Hot Topic suddenly promoted some quiz with these same questions, and then at the end you got redirected to a discount outfit page based on your answers. There would definitely be discussion about the ethics of that at the very least, if not massive outcry, considering the questions revolve around hypothetical scenarios for which "would you abuse or not abuse" are the answers leading to a clothing recommendation.
But it really is just how it is with any other part of the world: brands are not your friend. They do not care about anybody's well-being, they care about sales. And if the way to sell clothes is by advertising a harmful stereotype that teens are raving about in a quirky way, they will absolutely do that.
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