The Gap is using Puffy and Ken Watanabe in their posters. This is the first time I know of that they’re using Japanese celebs in their ads. Since they are 2 (or 3) of the few Japanese faces that are well-known in North America I’m guessing that either 1) the marketing department is located overseas or 2) run by foreigners who don’t know any other locally famous Japanese celebrities or 3) It’s an International Ad campaign. Probably it’s 3. Which might explain why most of the other foreigner celebs that appear in these ads are practically unknown to the average Japanese shopping for jeans. E.G. Selma Blair, Forest Whitaker, Sarah Silverman etc. Photos are by Annie Leibovitz
I saw the Puffy GAP poster in New York, so you could be right about the non-Japanese ad agency connection.
Haven’t seen Ken or Puffy here in San Francisco. Would be nice to.
Closest Asian face we get here is Lucy Liu.
You lost me at Ken Watanabe. I’ve no idea who any of the others are… I feel old now :(
The first time I heard about Puffy was in HK more than 10 years ago (I was born in HK). I was really surprised when I saw Puffy on TV in New Zealand last year. It was a cartoon series of them aired in the afternoon. I doubt that Kiwis know who they are thou.
They probably were looking for artists who were known in all 50 states of the US mainland. Thats usually what counts for international in these cases.