The Power Of AKB48
It`s very difficult to walk through the streets of Tokyo and not see something endorsed by AKB48. It`s difficult to turn on your television and not see a product ad by AKB48 members, or see them on a variety show, theirs or a guest. It`s difficult to turn on your television and not see a member in a drama or movie. It`s common to look at the various music charts and see AKB48 setting record after record ,this chart topping success ,has now started to extend to world music charts [largely due to domestic sales] . Yet none of these things created or displayed the force to create noise in the music industry as one harmless promotion.
Recently AKB48 entered into a deal with the postal service to create member stamps, something that famous or historic figures have done in every country of the world. When it came time for the stamps to be released, the postal service decided to set it up so people can order it online.
Simple enough right, when time came for the promotion to start, the demand for stamps was so great that it crashed the postal service web site.
Fans reacted with concern that they would not be able to get the stamps as a result of the interruption, that the postal service urged anyone who wanted to stamps to get them at their local office and that the stamps are print on order, so there is no worry of not getting the stamps.
When you reach the point that large numbers of supporters in one nation, worry over what is little more than a sticker that you can collect or put on an envelope, you have left the point of just being a group and entered the point of being a powerful franchise. It`s power in a kind of, this is a kind of wow, this is cool type of moment. Will it go down in history as one of those iconic moments in history? no ,it`s just one of those wow this is cool or interesting moments, that we have come to expect from AKB48 ,just as we came to expect when Morning Musume shook the foundations of the genre with Love Machine.
The campaign will continue until January 9, 2012.
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