Frozen 2 creates a marketing controversy in Japan; Manga artists used for promotions

Frozen 2 hit theatres on November 21, 2019. The movie did well at the box office and the COO of Disney animations also teased fans that there is a chance of a third Frozen movie coming out. Earlier today, it was reported that Walt Disney Japan's social media promotion campaign for Frozen 2 was caught up in a controversy around stealth marketing. This news came out after a handful of manga artists had been assigned to tweet about the movie, but did not reveal that they were paid to do so. 

Frozen 2 gets caught up in a controversy in Japan

It all began in December when a Twitter user noticed that seven different manga artists had posted pictures and illustrations of the characters from Frozen 2. All the artists had used the same phrasing to praise the film. After this, Walt Disney Company Japan issued an apology for the tweets on December 5. But the tweets suggested that the problem had arisen due to lack of communication and was not a deliberate deception created by the company.

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But it turns out that the manga artists had reportedly been directed by the advertising agency not to tell the world that they were paid to promote the film. One of the manga artists, named Kosame Daizu, tweeted various messages where he apologised to his 100,000-odd followers and said that he takes full responsibility for the promotional tweets. After this, few of his followers pointed out that he was forced to send those messages.

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Later on the same day, Disney Japan issued another statement where they took full responsibility for the campaign and said that it is not the fault of the artists. They apologised to the artistic and fans. The statement also said that there are measures being taken to prevent such problems from happening again.

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Disney had hired an ad giant, Dentsu group, who approached the specialist manga artist agency to find people to create the tweets. Dentsu group is the fifth largest ad agency in Japan and also has a big name in the world as a dominant player in the Japanese advertising sector. Frozen 2 was at the top of the box office for the last three weeks, earning $55 million so far. Frozen 1 earned about $250 million and was a big hit in the country.

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