I can agree that it's a good decision for Panasonic, because while it's nice to have a recognizable figure as your spokesperson/the face of your brand, and to keep that face regular, as a marketing strategy, Ayu is probably no longer right for them.
That said, for Ayu, I think this is quite the loss without a backup. It's very important for any artist to keep themselves marketable and to keep their face out there in the public eye. In today's music industry, even today's world, if you aren't constantly appearing (as Ayu is wont to do, working too hard!), people will forget about you, and you'll fall by the wayside. This seems to happen a lot to Korean artists who spend too much time promoting overseas, trying to break out in Japan or the US, and neglecting their Korean fanbase for many years.
Anyway, I'll be interested to see what contract Ayu can secure next! :)

LOLLLLLLL free mascara for everybody

i dont think rimmel will sponsor her tour .they are a foreiner brand . they just used ayu in japan " to blend in " , because it wouldnt have had much impact in japan if it was a "white model"

i m not surpised panasonic drop down ayu maybe they wanna give themself a "fresh " image or maybe there is somebody out there more popular that will help them sell better their stuff or maybe they siply want a "younger face"
even though i loved panasonic ayu cm because they were always original and ayu always looked so amazing , people in japan might have grew up tired of her ... she has represent the brand for so many years .

as someone said promoting those haven't helped ayu much , and it didnt help panasonic much either for the last few years ...

also from what i understood ayu dont want to do live on tv anymore because she wanna concentrate on her tour , im guessing dropping panasonic is part of it . she might wana focus on bigger tour or quality and it takes a lot of her time .

Larien----> i notice that with korean artists too . its a shame and so far most of them failed in US. i hate the way the change completly their style to do hip hop/rap as soon as they wanna appeal to US when its really not their style . seriously the hip hop/rap market is saturated , there is just too many of them it lacks of diversity .
i was surprise with boa recent come back she still have a HUGE fanbase in korea even though she didnt produce any albums over there for years

Gosh i hope ayu will never turn to hip hop to success in US.

^ Yeah, I really hope she doesn't go the Hikki route if she ever comes to the west :(

it's revealed that Ayase Haruka the new model for Panasonic LUMIX!
woahh!

i agree with you :P
although i love ayu,but i think ayase is cute and more energetic.i guess panasonic needs an energetic girl than a mature-ish woman?

But how do you know this? Sure ayu's sales are declining and all, but maybe it would have been an even larger decline without the CM's? And how do you know it hasn't helped panasonic for the last few years?

it's revealed that Ayase Haruka the new model for Panasonic LUMIX!
woahh!

i thought you just posted the same thing before me? :P
i think its time to have some fresh new image for the camera ambassadors :p

ayu get a contract with sony , everything should be fine XD

+100000000000000000000000000000 xD :P

It could be just for this pub, Ayu is oberbusy... we will see ^^

If they really totally dropped her, I'm really bummed. :( you can't have Panasonic without Ayu!!!

Who cares about Panasonic? Ayu has friggen Honda @_____@

Sorry if this comes off as rude, but do you wanna get married to your iPhone? :P I see you posting about it... a lot... xD

On topic now, the new girl is very plain looking. If they wanted to replace Ayu, they should've got someone as cute as her. :innocent

Kinda sad if she's completely gone from Panasonic, but only for nostalgic reasons, the commercials were always blah and the pictures not that great.

That could actually be a reason, it's like being a Pepsi spokesperson and walking around with a Coke can in your hand. Ok, not really, but still.

Seriously, the camera sucks. :laugh All you have to do is look at her twitter photos. Kinda sad people choose to preserve memories in such awful quality, but oh well. I wonder what happened to her Lumix mini SLR thing, she must have given up on it.

Umm...Sony? We know that's a competitor to Panasnoic, but they ALSO have a music label that is A COMPETITOR to Avex - Sony Music! Maybe Sony is NOT a good idea - Sony is for Sony... (electronic company for a music label)

No, ayu should either get Canon or Nikon.

or maybe with CORN FLAKES LOL XD XD
She is so busy now, probably we can see a new cm the next year

Ayu's panasonic cms used be so good and interesting...the recent ones are so boring....so I don't really care about the contract. Hopefully this means ayu will get a new deal somewhere.

not sony.. they are too stingy to get ayu... for some reasons.

nah. canon has avril lavigne, while nikon don't like to use high profile artist, they tend to use models instead.
seriously, i would rather casio drop this guy and use ayu instead. Or maybe i could start talking to my boss 101 reasons for him to make a proposal to the HQ to get ayu as the spokerperson.

It will be great! ayu will boast the sales of casio international more(and make my job easier :innocent, i'm a casio exilim promoter, not to mention that i can officially play ayu cms on my counter, whenever i feel like it).

There are people who pay attention to a brand BECAUSE ayu is the spokersperson!
and i believe ayu will love the dynamic photo function on casio camera! it's fun~~~

http://casio.jp/dc/products/ex_z2000/

i just don't like him... but there's no way i can say that to my boss...my head will roll...