Did you know that Jack Bauer was big in Japan? Well, he is. So big, in fact, that the Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. hired Kiefer Sutherland and a bunch of production people from the show 24 to make a series of ads for the company’s CalorieMate power bar.
Japanese advertisers have a long history of using Hollywood stars in their commercials. Enough so that it finally became an actual story line in a Hollywood movie. We all remember how in Lost in Translation Bill Murray’s character advertised Suntory whiskey (”For relaxing times, make it Suntory time”) for his Japanese fans. Usually the stars do these ads with the strict understanding that they will never be seen outside of Japan. And still, these ads are probably one of the best non-kept secrets in the world. Just do a search on Youtube for Japanese ad + Brad Pitt/Cameron Diaz/Natalie Portman/Bruce Willis and you are bound to hit gold.
My recent favourites, however, are these Jack Bauer commercials (God, that man is stressed). Here’s the first one (three more after the jump):