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Thursday, Mar 7, 2013 10:12 PM UTC

Japanese ad firm turns women’s thighs into billboards

A new trend in Japan is taking human advertising in a slightly more risqué direction

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Topics: women, Advertising, Sex, sexuality, ,

Japanese ad firm turns women's thighs into billboards (Credit: Japan Crush via the Telegraph)

Most people have seen men donning costumes to hand out palm cards for pawn shops or women draped in sign boards plastered with deals for discount suits, but a new trend in Japan is taking human advertising in a slightly more risqué direction.

A Japanese marketing firm is recruiting women to wear sticker-like advertisements — wait for it — on their thighs.

Wit Inc. is paying women to wear advertisements on their upper legs and a skirts short enough to show them off. Requirements for the job include being over the age of 18, having a significant number of followers on various social media accounts, a willingness to wear miniskirts and, well, lady parts. The firm is not currently enlisting men to show that kind of skin for cash.

Once hired, women can make up to $121 for the day. Besides just walking around, they also have to post at least two photos to the Internet of themselves, posed with the logo clearly visible, at different locations around their neighborhood. (See, that’s where the social media following comes in!)

This certainly isn’t the first advertising scheme to objectify women’s bodies (hi, every single other firm in the industry!), only the latest. And if the women signing up to be thighboards (like billboards, you know, for thighs) are feeling good about the arrangement, then bully for them!

My main concerns are more about practicality and function. For example: Are these thigh advertisements easy to see and read? Do they come in large-print font for the elderly and nearsighted? And what range of goods can be offered there? Would you really want to learn about a deal on contact lens solution from the inside of someone’s leg? Or disposable razors? Laxatives?

Where does it end? Other than at the hem of one’s skirt, of course.

Katie McDonough is an assistant editor for Salon, focusing on lifestyle. Follow her on Twitter @kmcdonovgh or email her at kmcdonough@salon.com. More Katie Mcdonough.

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