I write a lot about how the Japanese are innovative when it comes to advertising, coming up with fresh and unique ways of getting their message across to people. There’s the “advertising tissue” method, distributing tissues with your company’s name displayed on the front like J-List does, and the always-fun company-buys-all-the-advertising-space-inside-a-train method, making it impossible to not be aware of the company’s brand while you’re commuting home. Now the latest advertising method is here, and it happens to involve one of my favorite Japanese fashions, known as zettai ryoiki or the Absolute Zone, which is what the “sweet three-centimeter space” (to borrow a phrase from the opening of Lucky Star) between the top of a woman’s over-knee socks and where her skirt begins. That’s a pretty intense patch of skin, and one advertising firm proposes to pay women between $10 and $100 a day to walk around with a company’s logo fixed via a special sticker to their “absolute zone” region, which would certainly be a unique way of getting a marketing message across. I could see something like this becoming popular at big events like the Tokyo Motor Show or Comic Market’s industry booths. Incidentally, if you like this style of socks we’ve got some great Absolute Zone socks in stock, plus authentic “socks glue” to hold them up.
I love the new “Absolute Zone” advertising concept.