Glico (Page 2)

Travel back in time to see the neon nightscape and Glico sign of 1937 Osaka

Osaka’s famous Glico “running man” sign, which has been a landmark for almost 80 years, is facing yet another upgrade—this time from neon lights to LED. This will be the sixth generation of the sign, and aside from the change in lighting technology, which Ezaki Glico Co. says is due to the increasing difficulty in finding neon tubes, will still feature an image of a runner crossing a finish line.

It turns out, though, while the first sign wasn’t as colorful as it is today, it still had plenty of character. In this early 1937 film stored at the Kobe City Museum, the “running man” can be seen in vivid red and white, although deterioration of the film over time has rendered the white to appear more green.

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Glico gets some cute new mascot characters, but no one can figure out why

For decades snack company Ezaki Glico has supplied Japan with delicious munchies such as Pocky, Pretz, and Papico, not to mention a slew of other snacks that don’t happen to begin with the letter P! Until now, the company name was enough to grab people’s attention and promote the purchase of their tasty products. If pressed to choose an icon with which to represent the well-known brand, many might choose the 300-meter running man, as seen along the Dotonbori Canal in Osaka. However, not even he could be considered a true mascot.

Now, breaking tradition, Glico has just released official images of their all-new official mascot characters, Lico and Guri. These anime-style characters are the embodiment of cute and cool, but are pulling some conflicted reactions from Japanese Internet users. Take a look at their introduction video and decide for yourselves whether the creation of these characters is welcome or just plain weird.

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