Ouch! Haha, nothing serious!

Safety, security and stability are important values for many Japanese, and a major influence on consumers' purchasing decisions. Most Japanese are risk-averse, to a degree that many prefer not to acknowledge risk at all. One result of this mindset is that safety warnings tend to downplay serious scenarios such as accidents (above) or earthquakes (below) by presenting them in an overly cute manner.



Where else but in Japan would Elmo appear in a earthquake preparedness campaign (targeted not at children, but at adults!). So again, nothing serious - instead of thinking about how to prepare for earthquakes, let's play Tickle Elmo! instead.