eMobile

"We had no bad intentions but this is a cross-cultural gap issue and we have to accept it," eMobile CEO Sachio Semmoto told the British Telegraph.

Earnest Harris: Mobile Phone Monkey Business: A Japanese Primate Plays Obama 2008

The ethnic tensions stretched taut by the campaign and that have roiled U.S. culture for the last half year rippled across Japan when reports surfaced that a television ad for Japanese cellular telephone provider eMobile starred a monkey as Barack Obama.

Earnest Harris: Mobile Phone Monkey Business: A Japanese Primate Plays Obama 2008

Cries that the depiction was raw racism and an insult to Obama and all Blacks drew a denial of any knowing wrongdoing from eMobile.

Earnest Harris: Mobile Phone Monkey Business: A Japanese Primate Plays Obama 2008

He points out the company's mascot is a monkey, an animal revered in Japan and used in previous eMobile ads.

CNN Transcript Jul 2, 2008 2008

LAH: The president of eMobile insists the firm simply had no idea.

CNN Transcript Jul 2, 2008 2008

The New Yorker story with the Obamas as a terrorist First Couple got a lot of headlines, but the cartoon at the heart of another low-heat controversy recalled the scandal in Japan two weeks ago that saw mobile phone retailer eMobile pull television spots featuring a monkey leading a political rally -- a thinly veiled reference to Barack Obama.

Earnest Harris: Memin Pinguin: Mexican Cartoon Boy As Obama 2008

If a few in the Republican Party get it, maybe a few Japanophiles will too! eMobile defended itself by pointing out that it had used the monkey in previous commercials.

Earnest Harris: Mobile Phone Monkey Business: A Japanese Primate Plays Obama 2008

The company eMobile says it is a nod at the worldwide popularity of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama.

CNN Transcript Jul 2, 2008 2008

Its other investments in the region have included Dili, eMobile and China Animal Healthcare

Reuters: Press Release 2011

Its other investments in the region have included Dili, eMobile and China Animal Healthcare

Reuters: Press Release 2011