Because when I think of traffic safety, I think of E. Honda’s road rage issues!
If you’re of a certain age, you remember when the Street Fighter franchise was the fighting game to own, no matter what video game system you owned. Even three decades later, the Street Fighter franchise holds a special place in the hearts of many gamers out there… but that still doesn’t explain the interesting choice made by the police force in Tamura, located in Fukushima prefecture, to use the fighting game characters for their latest traffic safety campaign.
Yes, you read that paragraph correctly. On Friday, September 11th, a report hit the Internet revealing that the police in Tamura will use the Street Fighter characters as part of their campaign to increase traffic safety awareness, along with the proper use of reflectors. They will hang the posters up in police stations and highway service areas starting this month, though it’s unknown for how long the campaign will run.
In this first poster, you can see a few of the starring characters from the franchise with bold text that can be loosely translated as “Road rage is bad!!”
Meanwhile, there are a few of the reflector stickers that will be made available to those who presumably are driving or riding their bicycles at night and need to be seen by oncoming traffic. This makes sense, since the entire campaign is aimed at those in their teens up to their 40s.
This isn’t the strangest anime or video game collaboration that Japan has come up with. As you’ll remember a year ago, the series Attack on Titan teamed up with Snickers for a television ad campaign. We also can’t forget about Sailor Moon being used on multiple occasions to raise awareness of safe sex and STDs.
Source: Famitsu
