"Oto-san," the white dog famous in Softbank Mobile's TV ads, will release his own DVD on Sept 10. The DVD introduces his daily life like a diary. The 5-year-old dog "signed" with Victor Corp president Yuichi Kato, after arriving at the company's headquarters in a limo and attended by bodyguards. He will start filming this month.
The price of the DVD and a lunch box set will be 2,625 yen and 3,360 yen respectively.
© Japan Today
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timorborder
As a dog lover, this makes me laugh, it is always good to see a dog that is so well trained (whether it be to act, to defend, to help, to search, whatever). At the same time, as a marketing specialist, I have to take my hat off to Softbank for breaking open the mobile phone market through such entertaining campaigns. Their head-on assault of both DoCoMo and Au is even more impressive if you consider the fact that Vodaphone failed to make any real inroads here despite beating their head against the wall for a number of years.
seiosig
Huh???
Altria
Who would buy this? I think they're barking up the wrong tree.
Anyone remember the Nova usagi products?
hoserfella
Why would Softbank go out of their way to hire 2 African (Americans) as "bodyguards"? Is it because they are cool, scary, or both?
cleo
Who sez they 'went out of their way'? They're probably pals of O-Niichan.
I was under the impression that more than one dog was used in making the commercials (which I think are brilliant).
DoctorTofu
Haha, I might actually get that one. Softbank commercials with that dog are the only ones I unmute (I developed a reflex of hitting the "mute" button on my remote as soon as the commercials come up. Watching TV is fun again). More o-toosan is always good ;)
romulus3
nothing could possibly be more lame. dog gravure...how pathetic...roll over and show us your gear..give it a gooooood lick...atta boy!
serindipity
Oh, yes! I've been waiting for this to come out! I can't wait till it hits the stores. I'm gonna camp out in front of the store so I can be the first to buy this treasure! - NOT!
timorborder
nothing could possibly be more lame.
What about a three-legged dog?
pathat
Americans have been part and parcel of this whole white dog fascination from the beginning. Terry Kay`s moving novel, "Dance with the White Dog," spurred this white dog mania from several years back when his book became popular in Japan.
I congratulate SoftBank for using this to promote their business.
cleo
You mean Oto-san is ....possessed by a dead spirit? Say it isn't so!!!
KyouNoNippon
I would rent it, not buy it.
Gatorade
Wow!:. What is happening to this world!? I think I should do something like, that, like make a diary of my day... then sell it. Awesome!:. NOT!
Proffessor
hoserfella, Why should nationality or race bother you? It can be anybody and in this case, it just happend that they picked these guys. It's simply commercial.
hoserfella
It just happened they picked 2 black guys to act imposing. I just think it says something about the Japanese psyche and how they view blacks. Why do u suppose that they chose these 2 instead of the overwhelming number of Japanese wannabe actors available? It doesn't bother me personally (I'm neither black nor a wannabe Japanese actor), but I think it's an interesting point.
RepublicofTexas
I would never buy the dvd, but i love the commercials. My uncle's dog looks exactly like the dog in the cm, so everyone always calls her oto-san. As for the body guards, there are black people in Japan, it's not like they had to go all the way to America or Africa to hire them. Mai Kuraki usually has at least to blacks in her band for instance.
Himajin
Those commercials are great. I might spring for the DVD if I still had a small kid or kids around the house.
farhaan
Most stupid ads I have ever seen. While watching TV whenever these ads comes I immediately changes channel. I really hate those ads and that dog.
jpdrag0n
why do people feel the need to bring race into everything? as a japanese-american, the only japanese people that scare me are the yakuza. so having normal japanese 'bodyguards' wouldn't cut it for me. thats why they got a couple black guys to be oto-sans bodyguards...pretty scary guys...
KitsuneYoukai
A dog with body guards???? I wonder how much that costs and also how very pathetic...
buggerlugs
sad,sad,sad.... we live in a nation of... you mean people will actually buy this stuff?
blvtzpk
Yes, by some dint of fate only two black guys turned up for the audition. The company had no other option, did it?
hoserfella
jpdrag0n; my point exactly...