Asahi Breweries has joined other Japanese breweries and, with immediate effect, will no longer use the model, the so-called “campaign lady”, in beer advertising.
A spokesperson for Asahi Breweries said of the merger: “For the past two years they have not been able to conduct their core business. As a result, we conducted a comprehensive evaluation and decided to stop hiring a model from next year.
Japanese Brewery Models Were Everywhere
In the past, Japanese breweries have always advertised with “poster girls”, who often had to pose in skimpy bathing suits for advertising campaigns. The model traveled across the country and participated in various events to promote beer sales.
To promote the Asahi brand and new products, the women participated in TV shows across the country, cast the first pitch at a baseball game and did a poster photoshoot in bikinis on the beach.
However, criticism of this advertising strategy has intensified in recent years. The main argument of the critics was that women were being sexually exploited.
Some models became famous actresses or went into showbiz.
Asahi rented its first model in 1987 when “Super Dry” beer began to be sold. The former model is now a successful actress, and her successors were also able to make a name for themselves in showbiz.
Pandemic leads to rethinking in Asahi
However, due to the pandemic, Asahi hasn’t hired any new models for the past two years and justified the complete abolition of the “beer model” with the fact that the pandemic changed consumer behavior.
Asahi is one of the last breweries to list the models, with competitors Kirin and Suntoy having already changed their advertising strategy in 2003 and 2004. Sapporo Breweries stopped hiring advertising models in 2019.
The companies explained that consumers are now drinking not only beer, but many other alcoholic beverages as well, which is forcing beer manufacturers to change their advertising strategies.
