MOMOYA TV-Ads130-1978-Story of Moto

Time: 30 sec.

Product Name: MABO-DOFU-NO-MOTO

Description of Product: MABO-DOFU-NO-MOTO is a stir fry sauce for a popular Sichuan or Szechuan cuisine “Mapo doufu.” This spicy sauce can be stir-fried not only with tofu, but also with minced meat, onions and so on.

Year: 1978

Advertiser: Momoya Co., Ltd.

Advertising Agency: YOMIKO Advertising Inc.

Production Company: Cinq Co., Ltd.

Description of Title: This title, “Story of Moto,” is a kind of pun which has two different meanings. In Japanese, “moto” means “origin” or “beginning,” and also “material” or “ingredient.” Therefore, the “Story of Moto” can be interpreted as the “story of the beginning,” and it also means the “story of the ingredient,” namely this product MABO-DOFU-NO-MOTO.

As the voice-over starts telling ‘once upon a time,’ a man on a bicycle shows up in the burlesque landscape of the Great Wall of China twisted through the mountains. Pulling over and getting off the bicycle, he calls out an old lady in the two-storied building that resembles to Rokaku in Japanese language. After she answers leaning out of the second floor’s window, he ropes the building to the Great Wall and goes to her place as if he were a tightrope walker. In the following shot, the couple enjoys their meal together in the dining room. The latter part is mainly composed of live action shots, displaying the Mapo doufu, one of the most recognized Chinese dishes.