Source: © PR Times, Inc.
VTuber Kizuna AI “Kidnaps” Pedestrians Into Van, Promotes Deodorant In Street Interview [Video]
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- © PR Times, Inc.
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- Deodorant / Gatsby / Interview / Kizuna Ai / Mandom Corporation / roll-on / street interview
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Japanese male styling, beauty and hygiene product maker Mandom Corp.'s Gatsby brand is no stranger to the anime, game and internet culture-savvy crowd. For example, as we reported earlier, in April they rolled out an ad campaign for their Premium Type roll-on deodorant in which seven types of body odor were represented by seven handsome anime boys calling themselves the Wakky Seven.
Now, they've teamed up with celebrity Virtual YouTuber and singer Kizuna AI!
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Kizuna AI's first street interview
This time, Gatsby took to the streets of Tokyo in what could possibly be the world's first ever commercial street interview by a virtual entity. The results were turned into a video posted on Kizuna AI's official A.I. Channel.
Mandom's target was young men hanging out in the popular neighborhoods of Shibuya, Harajuku and Ikebukuro.
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Kizuna AI / Gatsby van causes a stir online
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On the day of the street interview, many people reported seeing the Kizuna Ai / Gatsby van, piquing interest and causing a stir online. For example, this hardcore fan:
I tried to follow the van on foot and I finally managed to see it twice! This time, I found it stopped, so I was able to properly "worship" {Kizuna AI's image}. It's a PR wrapping car with Kizuna AI on it! It was really worth spending three hours of my weekend for this. By the way, I'm in Ikebukuro now!
Little did they know that the van wasn't simply promotional advertisement!
Kizuna AI "kidnaps" unsuspecting pedestrians
As you can see in the video (posted below), after interviewing young men in the streets, Kizuna AI "kidnaps" some of them into the van for a product test. They were willing participants, of course, but Kizuna AI jokes about it, using the verb tsurekomu 連れ込む, meaning "bring someone into a place" and often used when describing sneaky or illicit activity. The joke continues when she asks her unsuspecting volunteers to wear a blindfold and remove their shirts, prompting her to say it looks like they're filming a "weird video."
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All participants safely emerged from the van, presumably smelling fresher, and happy to take home a free sample of Gatsby's Premium Type roll-on:
Video
The following video has Japanese subtitles which you can view in automatically-translated English or other languages:
The deodorant comes in three varieties, (from left to right) Scentless, Active Citrus and Smart Savon. The 60 ml bottles cost 750 JPY (excl. tax) and are available in drug stores and supermarkets all over Japan.
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To find out more about Gatsby's Premium Type Roll-On Deodorant, visit Mandom's product page here (in Japanese).