An interesting thing has happened to anime over the past few years: it’s become quite common to see well-known products being plugged on-screen. Of course, animators have always had fun with “unofficial” versions of famous brands, like “Pochy” and “Prech” in Please Teacher/Please Twins or the missile that explodes while flashing a Budweiser logo for a split-second in the Macross 1984 movie. Recently, though, the relationship between advertisers and animators has been changing as studios adjust to the realities of the 21st century. Some anime series now have famous product tie-ins built into them, like the running Pizza Hut gags and cross-promotions in Code Geass and A Certain Scientific Railgun, or the Katsuhiro Otome sci-fi series Freedom, which is loaded with humorous Cup Noodle imagery. In the new Evangelion movies, the characters shop at the Lawson convenience store, drink Yebisu beer and UCC Coffee and munch on Doritos. Tying certain products to anime certainly seems to be an effective strategy, judging from the sales of Grave of the Fireflies Sakuma Drops, traditional Kompeito candy and Totoro Milk Caramels at J-List, and clearly people like the idea of eating snacks that Hayao Miyazaki’s pencil has animated. But is the recent increase in anime product placement crossing a line that should remain uncrossed? Ask me later, I’ve got a major craving for Pizza Hut right now.
Once again, I am giving myself major hunger pangs by blogging about food…
