Posts Tagged: repetition

Food and Drinks — No Comments
30
Mar 09

Repetitive ads go down easier with a spoonful of sugar

Mitsui sugar ad poster

Mitsui sugar ad poster

I don’t recall seeing this practice much back in the States, but in Japan they love to plaster walls with the same exact advertisement poster. It wouldn’t be uncommon to walk around town spotting walls of the same ad covering a whole wall. They also do this with TV commercials where they show the same commercial right after the first one finishes. Sometimes the commercials are slightly different, but often times not. It almost feels like a glitch in the Matrix. Like a glitch in the Matrix. You get the point.

This is an ad for Spoon brand sugar. To me this advertisement almost looks like a retro 1960’s style fashion ad, but then again maybe I’ve just been watching too much Mad Men lately. These ads were posted in Yokohama station for the Toyoko line. The copy next to the woman’s head reads “Sugar has always been Spoon brand.”（お砂糖は、ずっと、スプーン印）. The copy below the central spoon logo reads “Thanks to you, Spoon is celebrating its 50th anniversary” (おかげさまで、スプーン印は５０周年）. Below that in English it reads “Sweet Smile with Spoon Sugar.” with a 50th Anniversary logo. (FYI- Did I mention the use of English or “Engrish,” in advertisements and packaging is a popular trend in Japan.) Bottom left shows what I think is the packaging and next to it is a some type of give-away campaign they have going on with a link to the corporate website for Mitsui Sugar which I am guessing is the parent company of the Spoon brand.

http://www.mitsui-sugar.co.jp/

Health and Beauty / Technology — No Comments
19
Oct 08

Axe chocolate scent for men advertising in Japan

Axe bodyspray Wanted poster advertisement poster Chocoman

Axe bodyspray Wanted poster advertisement poster Chocoman

Axe body spray has a new Chocolate body scent. The ads posters that I found posted in Shibuya near Tower records were designed to look like a “Wanted” poster featurning a grinning and if you ask me, a somewhat creepy face of a Chocolate boy and behind him some cleavage.

A whole wall was plastered with these posters. It is a pretty commmon practice in Japan to fill a whole wall with the same exact ad. (FYI- This practice is also done with TV commercials on occasion when they play the same exact commercial one after another. )

The copy reads as follows:
WANTED (in big bold letters)
Chocoman (in Japanese katakana チョコマン; in much smaller letters above the photo of the grinning Chocoman)
Reward undecided. (賞金変動中; With a 7 digit line of question marks lined up preceded with a Yen sign.)

Below that in smaller copy it suggests that the viewer scan a “barcode” with their mobile phone:
The first step in obtaining reward (賞金獲得の第一歩 with an arrow pointing to a Japanese cell phone scan barcode).

These mobile/cell phone barcodes are a pretty common site on a lot of advertising in Japan. It usually offers some benefits in the form of discounts, samples, and other rewards simply by scanning the code and entering you cell phone email.
The barcode itself isn’t really a barcode, but more of a square grid resembling a digital inkblot.

This ad campaign also features TV commercials which appear to be exactly the same as the one shown outside of Japan (North America, etc.) featuring a chocolate man walking around being chased and randomly bitten by females in his vicinity.