Short answer is no. Japanese commercials have always been like this whereas American commercials are slowly adopting the surreal and absurd (see Old Spice) in order to test the commercial-watching crowd, half of which believes the Charming Toiletpaper Bears are cute and the other half experiences furry-related orgasms

I have a feeling that the phenomenon is not so much that Japanese commercials are "weird" and more that American commercials are completely fucking boring and creatively bankrupt. Starburst and Old Spice had some of the more entertaining American television ad campaigns in the last decade or so and were considered "weird". When I think about it, they are likely par for the Japanese course.

I'm not trying to be all weaboo and say everything Japanese is better, but let's be honest: our marketing departments only break the script for the Super Bowl, of all fucking things.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO