Ever Wanted to Impregnate Your Favorite Idol?

AKB48, for those who haven’t heard, is Japan’s most popular idol group.

Not satisfied with a group of 5 girls (or 6, or even 7) Japan’s mastermind of utterly shameless but genius marketing behind the AKB48 phenomenon, Yasushi Akimoto, took things to another level entirely.

He ended up pulling in not only 48 (as the name would suggest) but some 91 girls between the ages of 13 and 25 who now populate the extended AKB48 world.

Although they have been described as a music group, they could probably be more accurately described as a front for pulling in advertising revenue – huge volumes of advertising revenue.

And recently AKB48 took what many might consider a step too far.

too much?

The latest spark of AKB48 marketing genius is guaranteed success. It allows you to impregnate your favorite member.

Well, virtually.

Fronting the campaign is Yuko Oshima, one of the most famous AKB48 members. On the promotional material she sits gazing demurely out towards the viewer, a gentle smile on her face, and with her shirt hiked up, suckling a baby.

“Won’t you make a baby with me?” she asks.

Thankfully, at 23 years old Oshima is one of the legally-aged members of the group. So producer Akimoto does operate within acceptable limits.

This is something of a contrast to Johnny Kitagawa, Japan’s most powerful producer, who creates exclusively boy bands. Kitagawa recently launched “Sexy Zone”, a group featuring an 11 year-old boy he chose when “considering about sexiness of men”. Yes, really.

AKB net

The “AKBaby” campaign is tied to AKB48’s new status as an internet service provider. Included with registration into “AKB Official Net” are a number of bonus gifts – exclusive images, fan club membership, tickets to live performances and more.

But best of all for the main target, AKB’s otaku fanbase, comes the privilege of being able to choose the mother of their offspring from a number of AKB members, merge her with their own photo and be presented with a downloadable image of the virtual lovechild.

Watch the video commercial:

links

AKBaby on AKB Official Net with more images and information.

And here’s the AKB48 main page where you can meet all the members!

Do you want to have a baby with an AKB48 member?

~ by JapanGasm on 25 February, 2012.