Trends in Japan - CScout Japan Blog » Ebi-chan “graduates” to big-sister magazine Ane Cam

Ebi-chan “graduates” to big-sister magazine Ane Cam

Written by: Rebecca Milner on August 29, 2008 at 2:36 pm | In MARKETING IDEAS |

When fashion bible Can Cam launched Ane Can last year, the “older sister” version of the original magazine targeting early 20-somethings, media watchers had only one conclusion: Can Cam’s popular cover models were getting a little too, uh, grown-up for the content. So it comes with little surprises that publisher Shogakukan announced last week that top face Ebi-chan, who will turn 29 next month, will indeed be leaving Can Cam for Ane Can at the end of the year. Officially because she “has developed an interest in more grown-up styles.”

What is interesting however, are the “graduation” events publicized by Shogakukan on the Can Cam website to honor this occasion, what actually amounts to a celebration of a young woman passing that dreaded mark into her late 20s. Before you snicker at how young that still sounds, 25 has traditionally been considered a woman’s “sell-by” date in Japan. While there are certainly more than enough attractive, successful female celebrities well into middle-age to convince the population otherwise, no one exactly makes a public spectacle out of reaching a new milestone age.

Contrary to convention, Ebi-chan will have a publicized final Can Cam photo shoot and a graduation party at Omotesando Saint Grace Cathedral. Never mind that that location of the latter and the dress she wears in the promotional picture scream wedding. A handful of lucky readers (10 pairs for the shoot and 75 pairs for the party) will be selected from what is likely to be hundreds of thousands of applicants to attend.

With a growing number of Japan’s female population “graduating” into older audience brackets, marketers do well to turn this fact into a cocktail party a la Sex and the City to keep consumer spirits high and buying. After all, there are certainly enough products on the market to make women feel overly self-conscious about the aging process.