claim: A video shows a woman using her face as a paddle during a game of table tennis.
origin: As it turns out, taking balls to the face is no testament to the quality of your skin. An animated gif purportedly showing a woman using her face as a paddle during a game of ping pong went viral on social media after it was posted to the web site Reddit on 29 October 2017: This gif only shows a portion of the original video which was published by theÂ Tofu Moritadaya companyâ€™s YouTube page in November 2015. In addition to a few extra scenes of people playing table tennis, the gif is noticeably missing the closing frames of the original video which featured an advertisement for a skin care product. Here are two still shots from the original commercial showing the product, aÂ Tofu Moritaya Soy Milk Yogurt Facial Mask, and the tagline â€œç©¶æ¥µã®ãƒãƒªâ€ or â€œultimate firm skinâ€: TheÂ Tofu Moritadaya company has been coy about the authenticity of this commercialâ€”but skin care brands everywhere tend to over-promise and under-deliver. When the ad was posted to Facebook in 2015, it was accompanied by the caption (roughly translated via Google) â€œWhat do you associate with listening to beautiful skin? The ultimate Hari creates an impact movie. # Facial table tennis girl.â€ It was accompanied by a similarly playful caption (I donâ€™t want to face such an opponent) when it was shared on Twitter, and when the â€œperson in chargeâ€ of Tofu Moritaya spoke to the Japanese publication â€œWith News,â€ they said that they would â€œleave it to your imaginationâ€: < ã€Œã”æƒ³åƒã«ãŠä»»ã›ã—ã¾ã™ã€‚å“çƒã‚’çŸ¥ã£ã¦ã„ã‚‹æ–¹ã‚‚ã€ãã†ã§ã¯ãªã„æ–¹ã‚‚æ¥½ã—ã‚ã‚‹å†…å®¹ã«ãªã£ã¦ã„ã¾ã™ã€‚ãœã²ã€ã”å®¶æ—ã‚„ã”å‹äººãŸã¡ã«ç´¹ä»‹ã—ã¦ã‚‚ã‚‰ãˆã‚Œã°ã¨æ€ã„ã¾ã™ã€‚ã¾ãŸã€èˆˆå‘³ã‚’æŒãŸã‚ŒãŸæ–¹ã¯å•†å“ã‚’æ‰‹ã«ã—ã¦ã„ãŸã ã‘ãŸã‚‰å¹¸ã„ã§ã™ã€ â€œI will leave it to your imagination. Itâ€™s content that you can enjoy both those who know table tennis and those who do not have it. I hope you will be introduced to your family and friends. I am also interested in hopefully it would be greatly appreciated if you could have the item in hand.â€ > Although Tofu Moritadaya wonâ€™t say whether or not the footage of a woman using her head as a ping pong paddle is authentic, we can safely say that this video was digitally manipulated for a number of reasons. For instance, the only footage that we could find of this woman using her remarkable talent (and ultimate firm skin) as a ping pong paddle is from this commercial. And even though this video appears authentic when played at full speed (largely in part to a shaky, blurry camera), the ball movement looks less natural when the video is slowed down: The original advertisement can be glimpsed below: ThisÂ Tofu Moritadaya skin care advertisement was probably inspired by a similar commercial produced in 2008 which purportedly showed Bruce Lee playing ping pong with nunchaku. That video was also digitally manipulated and was created to promote a Nokia N96 Limited Edition Bruce Lee cell phone.