Since last August the National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan (NAB) has been running a nationwide TV ad campaign to promote television commercials.
Featuring a cartoon monkey named Coma-saru and a jingle written and sung by pop superstar Tatsuro Yamashita, the ads invite viewers to "enjoy CM," as if "commercial messages" themselves were just another consumer product.
The reason for this campaign is the proliferation of digital devices that allow viewers to record programs and skip over commercials and station breaks, a development that worries advertisers and, in turn, broadcasters, who make their money from advertisements.