Japan cancels Netflix dating show campaign after backlash

Japan's justice ministry said on August 21 that it will cancel a collaboration with the Netflix dating show “Badly in Love” after criticism that the campaign could glorify or trivialise crime.

The ministry launched the partnership earlier this month with a poster featuring Season 2 cast members. The ministry's rehabilitation bureau had defended the campaign by saying the show highlighted harsh upbringings, atonement and personal growth, matching its belief that “a person can change”.

“Badly in Love” focuses on Japan's “yankii” delinquent subculture and features young men and women with troubled or criminal pasts, including former yakuza gangsters and motorcycle gang members.

The ministry said it had not intended to endorse crime or delinquency, but had received concerns that the collaboration could cause discomfort to people victimised by crimes. It said ending the campaign was not meant to reject efforts to rehabilitate people who committed crimes in the past.

The show will continue to air without the government's support.

Season 2 drew criticism after an episode in which one cast member said that, as a teenager, he had been arrested for setting someone on fire to prove he was “not chickening out”.

Netflix has said Season 1 spent weeks in the top 10 in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Executive producer Dai Ota told AFP in April that the production team held extensive internal discussions before Season 1 to avoid the show being seen as condoning violence.