Page 13 - IAV Digital Magazine #455

JapaneseFirmSellingAdvertisingSpaceOnCommuters' ArmpitsClaimsToHaveSignedUpFirst Client
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
A Japanese advertising agency has started selling ad space on the armpits of attrac- tive young women, snag- ging a beauty treatment clinic as its first client.
The Wakino Ad Company - “waki” is the Japanese term for armpit - was set up earlier this year as a subsidiary of the Liberta beauty products firm, which does a brisk trade in items designed to make armpits beautiful.
The company’s web site has images of sam- ple adverts, with a rectangular, full-colour ad measuring near- ly 2 inches by 4 inches nestled snugly into an armpit costing ¥10,000 (£68.60) for one hour of expo- sure. The mod- els displaying the adverts are
pictured grasp- ing overhead handles on trains or stretch- ing to show off their armpits.
The Seishin Biyo Clinic has been the quickest off
the mark to secure this unconventional advertising space, using models’ armpits to raise aware- ness - appropri- ately - of its painless under-
arm hair removal procedure, the Togech news site reported.
The company is looking to hire more armpit models, Wakino Ad states on its
web page, including male models. It has also announced plans to stage a beauty contest to find the most attractive armpits in Japan.
Armpits are not the first part of the female body that Japanese advertisers have been encour- aged to take advantage of, with Absolute Territory PR in 2013 launching a campaign to encourage advertisers to purchase space at the back of models’ legs, strategically between the hem of miniskirts and the top of long socks.
More than 1,300 women applied to be advertising hoardings in the first three months after the company was set up.
Wakino Ad’s campaign, how- ever, is likely to go into hiberna- tion as soon as the autumn months arrive and young women begin to cover up to keep warm.
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine