Pac-Man sells out!
The ball of orange descends into the cutthroat career-souring world of advertising and promotion
Asahi Soft Drinks is about to launch "Asahi Chara," some sort of new energy or fitness drink in Japan, and has closed a deal with monstrous gaming corporation Namco to use Pac-Man as its logo. Although this writer hasn't seen any surveys recently on the subject, one would assume that Pac-Man is probably the best known gaming "character" of all time. You can stuff your Marios and Donkey Kongs, after all, they're new blood. The packaging, which is on display in this Famitsu piece, features our favourite munching ball pursuing a Chara logo, set on a white background so as to emphasize the contrast in colours. According to Famitsu, "Asahi Chara, which contains the new sweetener arabinose and garcinia skin extract, is a non-sugar calorie-controlling drink." At the risk of editorializing, if the drink isn't up to Dr. Pepper or Spiked Silver's standards, young Pac-Man will have some serious questions to answer. Ahem. That said, with a name like "Asahi Chara", we somehow doubt we'll see it over here any time soon.