MOMOYA TV-Ads082-1971-The Little Match Girl

Time: 30 sec.

Product Name: SHIITAKE-NORI

Description of Product: SHIITAKE-NORI is a savory preserve made of seaweed, called “Nori-no-tsukudani” in Japanese. It is made with soy sauce, sugar, mirin (rice wine) and also mixed with shiitake mushroom. It is preservable, and often eaten with Japanese rice.

Year: 1971

Advertiser: Momoya Co., Ltd.

Advertising Agency: YOMIKO Advertising Inc.

Production Company: Television Corporation of Japan

Description of Title: "The Little Match Girl," or “Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkern,” written by Hans Christian Andersen, is a Danish fairy tale about a girl who dies selling matches during the cold winter.

With tragic background music, the opening shot portrays a blond girl who walks up a street alone. In spite of the heavy snow, she only puts on poor clothes and apron with patches. Lighting a match for sale, she finds herself in a fantasy of a warm room with a fire in the fireplace and a barbecue of turkey on the table. This piece is a burlesque of a tale “The Little Match Girl,” originally titled “Den Lille Pige med Svovlstikkerne,” written by a Danish author Hans Christian Andersen in the 1840s. In 1971, the TV Anime series “Andersen Monogatari,” or “Hans Christian Andersen Stories,” was broadcasted by Fuji Television Network Inc., as one of the seasons among “Sekai Meisaku Gekijo,” or “World Masterpiece Theater.”