Japan's love for fictional characters is unmatched. If you don't have a cute mascot or an anime character people recognize, no one will pay attention to your agricultural initiative or tourism campaign. Even anti-drug PSAs need help from video game characters to get the youths to notice.
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles was released for PC, Switch and PS4 earlier this year, bringing to the west both Great Ace Attorney games that were previously only available on 3DS in Japan. These game are set in the late 18th/early 19th century, following Phoenix Wright's Japanese progenitor Ryunosuke Naruhodo and his various legal battles that take him from Meiji Japan to Victorian England. Naruhodo and his colleagues Kazuma Asogi and Susato Mikotoba appear on this poster not to warn kids about the dangers of opium, but weed.
"Cannabis robs you of your future!" says the central text. The box at the bottom says that possessing or giving even a small amount can result in a prison sentence of up to five years, wheras growing, exporting or importing can get you seven years behind bars. While attitudes toward cannabis have changes a lot in the west in recent years, it's still highly illegal in Japan but remains popular among younger people.
6,000 posters and 4,000 flyers featuring the original Great Ace Attorney artwork will be hung up in schools, police boxes and train stations around Osaka. Capcom have worked with the government on similar PSA campaigns since 2009, saying: "Our corporate motto is 'A sensitive development of business that creates a culture of fun.' Abiding by this creed, we will proactively grapple with societal issues, starting with climate change. We aim for lasting growth under a harmonious relationship of trust with all our stakeholders and the earth's environment."
It's a good thing they're not using Resident Evil characters considering the amount of herbs they need to get through a game. What do you guys make of this? Do you think anti-drug PSAs need anime or video game characters to work? Sound off in the comments!
