Grand Bazaar Summer “Summer Santa” advertisement

This is an advertisement for the department store Laforet made in 1987.  Hideaki Murase served as the art director for this piece.  He was Japanese graphic designer who was born in Yokohama and was a member of the Tokyo Art Directors Club from 1970 to 2018. He has his own design agency, Murase Design.In this advertisement, Santa Claus is shredding a massive wave while clutching a ukelele in his right hand. He is wearing swim trunks instead of his usual red pants.  On the right in a simple black font," Summer Santa" is written in katakana.  In the bottom left-hand corner, it says “Grand Bazar 7.24 fri. to 7.28 tue.".  It is printed in a mustard yellow font with a black box around it.  Finally, the name of the department store Laforet Harajuku is in a light green font.  The Laforet promotions in the 1980s were whimsical and silly. Many of them had “dajyare” which are similar to what is known in the US as “dad jokes”. Murase's works all had strong visuals that captured the flamboyance and the joy of the 1980s in Japan. His work at Laforet is categorized by having comical visuals that included photography and large text.