Drunk Japanese Turned into Human Billboards
(Yaocho Bar Group/YouTube)
Someone has been turning apparently drunken Japanese people into human billboards, framing them where they lie and including the English-language hashtag #nomisugi - which means "too drunk" in Japanese - and a message in Japanese characters apparently inviting bystanders to photograph and tweet what they see.
It was not entirely clear whether these Japanese billboards were real public service announcements against public drunkenness, as they purported to be, or a savvy publicity stunt. Regardless, people were tweeting images of the billboards to #nomisugi.
Ogilvy & Mather, an advertising agency that appeared to be associated with the campaign, didn't return phone calls or emails for comment by either its New York and Asia headquarters.
Whether staged or legit, or both, the campaign's message echoes past public warnings posted on the Tokyo Metro asking commuters to drink responsibly - at home.