Group firm of Japanese wig maker Aderans ran stealth online ads in 2019
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A subsidiary of major Japanese wig maker Aderans Co. ran advertisements disguised as user posts on a popular Japanese online question
A subsidiary of Japanese wig maker Aderans Co., Reizvoll Co., ran stealth online ads in 2019, posting promotional content for its products on Yahoo Chiebukuro without disclosing they were advertisements, according to a report by The Mainichi. The practice, known as stealth marketing, was inappropriate under current compliance standards.
The wig maker paid a Tokyo-based online advertising firm 150,000 yen ($965) per month to post sponsored content on the platform, with the firm posing as ordinary internet users to post questions and then use separate accounts to post responses promoting Reizvoll wigs. Around 70 such posts were made until around December 2019, but most were deleted by Yahoo.
Despite regulations introduced in Japan in October 2023, requiring businesses to correct or delete such content, improper practices have continued. Reizvoll has since introduced compliance education and training programs for employees and is requiring personnel in charge of advertising and promotion to strictly follow approval procedures.
Brief written by urgent.news from The Mainichi's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
