Very amusing news about girl idol group: AKB48

[Ayumiko]

AKB48's promotion "scam" cancelled

DefSTAR Records recently announced a promotional campaign for "Sakura no Hanabiratachi 2008," the new single from idol unit AKB48. Those buying the single received a poster, randomly selected from 44 different ones, each featuring a member of the group. Any fan who collected all 44 posters would be able to attend a special AKB48 concert.

The campaign attracted a lot of criticism from fans, with some likening the campaign to a scam. On Thursday, DefSTAR updated its website to announce that the special concert has been canceled, due to concerns that the campaign may actually be in violation of laws regarding fair business practices.

The label apologized to fans and stated that they will be accepting returns, starting on Monday.

http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-2653

o_O...so bascially if you want to attend the 'special' concert, you'll have to buy 44+ copies of the SAME single, to collect all 44 randomly chosen posters to attend. Who the heck would do that? and where will you put them all? You must have to be rich and hardcore to do that...lol

[sora-kara]

hahaha wow.....

that is completely ridiculous....
just goes to show that the public will only take so much of the marketing scams and crap before really making a fuss.

-_-

[milky_way]

WTF? O_O
I wouldn't even buy 2 copies of a single let alone 44.

[ruixiong89]

HAHAHAHA! Power to the OTAKU! It's INSANE. Are they out of their minds or what?! Yup, even asking fans to get CD-only, CD+DVD and CD+2DVD versions (i.e. KINGDOM) is really pushing it. 44+ CDs of the same song? You've got to really like the song! HAHA.

Thanks for the news! It's seriously AMUSING! Can't stop laughing about it.

to their label! And suddenly, avex doesn't seem so bad afterall! HAHA.

wtf That sounds so desperate

[ruixiong89]

^ Hey yvette! Hi! It's been quite some time since I've seen you pop by here!

[Calico]

LOL WOW. And it's RANDOM. So even buying 44 doesn't guarantee you'd get all 44! That's hilarious.

It's funny because sometimes we think 4 covers for the same CD is ripping us off

Originally Posted by ruixiong89

^ Hey yvette! Hi! It's been quite some time since I've seen you pop by here!

Hello! It has been a while, hasn't it? I just started posting recently. It's nice to see you!

[Aga-chan]

Originally Posted by Calico

LOL WOW. And it's RANDOM. So even buying 44 doesn't guarantee you'd get all 44! That's hilarious.

Right! LOL So even after buying 100 copies it could happen that you still won't have all 44 posters. Maybe the company wanted the fans to exchange the posters and, um, deepen the friendship between fans...

I wonder how many fans did buy 44 copies XD

[Kobayashiwoof]

i guess only like 10 fans would turn up lmao.


How crazy lmao, who is their manager ?

[KuroixShiroi_Namida]

Lol. But AKB48 are awesome XD!

[Halla]

this is just like another reason to really dislike these types of girlgroups, they are just so creepy all around.

like I can't even begin to image what their fanbase is like if their management thought they could pull this off to begin with.

image if they actually pulled this off. the girls would have had to perform to a handful of really creepy (middle-aged?) men who they know are just unhealthily obsessed with them? that's just so wrong

to collect all the posters, you'd probably need to buy several hundred copies of the single if not thousands seeing as there's a pretty small change (1:44) of getting a particular poster. it's actually possible to count how many they would need to buy, but I didn't pass the probability math course I recently had so I can't do it lol

[arisu_1love]

Originally Posted by Halla

this is just like another reason to really dislike these types of girlgroups, they are just so creepy all around.

like I can't even begin to image what their fanbase is like if their management thought they could pull this off to begin with.

image if they actually pulled this off. the girls would have had to perform to a handful of really creepy (middle-aged?) men who they know are just unhealthily obsessed with them? that's just so wrong

to collect all the posters, you'd probably need to buy several hundred copies of the single if not thousands seeing as there's a pretty small change (1:44) of getting a particular poster. it's actually possible to count how many they would need to buy, but I didn't pass the probability math course I recently had so I can't do it lol

lol lol lol
What you said is so true, so funny as well!

[KarenPang]

hahaha that's so funny , it's probably 1 of the silliest marketing strategy I've come across .

[KarenPang]

Originally Posted by .llama

It's funny because sometimes we think 4 covers for the same CD is ripping us off

haha yeah & I thought having 3 different covers for a single or 3 different editions/pics for an album's bad .

this's really taking the cake !

I feel sorry for the one little fangirl/boy who has 44 singles sitting in their rooms and a bunch of posters but now no concert to attend.

[AyuGAME]

what a ridiculous campaign strategy...glad that they canceled it

[Sakura_Genki]

Haha. A bit much. I doubt many people wanted to buy 44+ copies of one single. Ridiculous.

[apple-pi]

O_________O
...that's bizarre. *checks calendar* Kinda early for April Fools, huh?

I wonder what they'll come up with next o__o