Feel Stylish, Feel 100% Light!

It always amuses me when hot-shot stars from Hollywood come to Japan in the form of advertisements they wouldn't normally do back home. Are people like Scarlett Johannson and Angelina Jolie that hard up for money that they have to appear in ads for ice coffee and lip gloss here in Japan? According to Wikipedia, aka my internet bible, back in The West, appearing in these ads "can be perceived as selling out by their fanbase or the critical public at large". So what, Japanese people don't consider them sell outs? Or is there no concept of selling out here?

Either way I was a bit surprised when I found myself face to face with SJP while indulging in an ice cold diet coke. That's right, here she is!
Telling me to "Feel stylish. Feel 100% light". Ahh if only it were possible.

With the popularity of Sex & the City here I guess the ad execs figure we will look at her, and at the "No calorie Coca-cola" (not Diet Coke here) and somehow equate drinking it and suddenly turning all thin and fab like SJ Parker.　Sigh.

Actually there's an ad on TV for diet coke now ending with "the light taste of people whose style shines" or something along those lines. I'm not sure how to interpret the ad exactly, but they do seem to be using a toned down female version of the village people. It seems to imply that whether you are a Suit, a construction worker or a couple other characters I can't quite work out (librarian?! doctor?!), as long as you exude style and confidence (and drink diet coke!) you are stylish and sexy. If only that actually applied here in Japanland.