A display unit includes: a display section having an electrophoretic display device provided among a plurality of first electrodes and a second electrode, and displaying an image by switching a white, black, or gray-scale display state depending on an applied voltage; and a drive circuit driving the display section by varying a voltage applied to the first electrodes, while holding the second electrode at a common potential during a write period including frame period(s). When a first region of the display section has a first display state of white or black during a first write period, and an image of a second region thereof is changed while holding the first display state at the first region upon switchover from the first write period to a temporally-continued second write period, the drive circuit offsets the common potential toward a direction in which a voltage applied to the first region is raised.