[Ayu_desu]

One thing the recession is definitely affecting is the advertising industry, which may be the reason for Ayu's lack of presence in TV lives/magazines (although I must admit that her declining popularity in Japan is not really helping (IMO)). Since demand for goods and services are decreasing, the need for advertising is almost useless. It's definitely the top cost-cutter for a company and I think it's most logical to believe that Avex and all the companies in the world should be doing. I'm currently interning in a paper company and our top customers are American and Canadian advertising companies. To the least, our company is doing quite poorly during this quarter.

I agree with SunshineSlayer that we cannot place the blame totally on the recession since these sales do not accurately reflect the whole story. Other factors include popularity, technology advances, other advertising gimmicks, etc. With regards to the current 2-day sales, one thing I must say is that Ayu's 3-versions+usb gimmick is a nonachievement.