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Suntory pulls ads from Japan’s Fuji TV amid network controversy
Japanese multinational drinks firm Suntory Holdings has joined around 50 sponsors who have halted commercials on Japan’s Fuji TV as the network battles a sexual misconduct scandal.
Fuji Television Network Inc is currently facing scrutiny over its alleged involvement in a misconduct scandal.
Several Japanese companies have pulled their advertisements from the broadcasting channel in light of the controversy.
Suntory Holdings as well as Nissan Motor Co, Toyota Motor Corp, cosmetics maker Kao Corp, Lawson, Seven & i Holdings Co, McDonald’s Japan and job-matching app Timee have distanced themselves from Fuji TV, according to Japan Today.
A spokesperson for Suntory told the drinks business that the company does not have an official statement concerning the controversy. However, they did share: “concerning the current issue with Fuji Television, Suntory has made a comprehensive decision to suspend advertising placements from 20 January”.
The controversy
TV host Masahiro Nakai, the former leader of now defunct boy band SMAP, once the best-selling boy band in Asia, has been linked to an alleged sexual assault against a woman at a party organised in June 2023 by a Fuji TV employee.
Weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun reported in December on a 90 million yen ($580,000) settlement between Nakai and a woman over the alleged incident.
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The former SMAP star issued a statement acknowledging a settlement over “a trouble”, but he denied any violence.
Fuji TV denied involvement in the incident, saying that the employee who reportedly set up the meal neither arranged nor was aware of it.
News of the scandal did not immediately trigger a flood of pullouts by sponsors.
However, a news conference on Friday (17 January) by Fuji TV triggered criticism that the company lacked transparency over the affair, leading to many replacing their commercials with public service announcements, the Associated Press has reported.
An affiliate of Dalton Investments, a US activist fund, has sent the Japanese broadcaster a second letter dated 21 January regarding its lack of management of the issue involving alleged sexual misconduct.
The letter accused Fuji Media of “a cover up of the truth” in its press conference on Friday, according to Nikkei Asia.
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