A Gratitude Campaign on July 17th, “Manga Day”
Popular Japanese Manga “Thank You” in Four Countries Worldwide
The Anti-Piracy Organization ABJ is launching a newspaper advertising campaign in the United States, Italy, Spain, and France on July 17th, “Manga Day,” to raise awareness about manga piracy issues
The number of piracy sites, mainly manga in various languages, has reached 1,332 sites, and the amount of free readings per month on the 10 major English translation piracy sites alone is $0.8 billon, a figure that is increasing every year and requires immediate action.（May 2024）
The New York Times will feature an advertisement expressing gratitude to readers who choose official versions over pirated ones. Similar ads will appear in major newspapers across the other countries: la Repubblica in Italy, EL PAÍS in Spain, and Le Monde in France. This unique, positive approach of saying “Thank you for reading official versions” instead of “Stop reading pirated versions” has already proven successful in Japan. It sparked discussions about piracy on social media, making the issue visible and fostering an atmosphere that encourages reading official versions. As a result of this initiative, the amount of free reading , which was previously 500 billion yen, was reduced by 25%, bringing it down to 380 billion yen.
The campaign will showcase popular manga titles specific to each country. A QR code in the ad will lead to a “thank you” song from the manga characters. This song, “Manga x Vaundy Thank You,” was originally released in Japan as part of the 2023 “Thank You for Your Manga Love” campaign. (See “Past Campaigns in Japan” on the same page for reference)
Publication Date: July 17th, “Manga Day” (commemorating the 1841 launch of “Punch,” the world’s oldest satirical comic weekly, in the UK)
Past Campaign Implemented in Japan
“Manga × Vaundy: Thank You for Your Love of Manga” MUSIC VIDEO (From March 9, 2023)
To express gratitude to legitimate readers, we created a song using lyrics composed of dialogues and panels from 61 popular manga titles, collaborating with Vaundy, an artist known for his love of manga. At the end of the music video, viewers were encouraged to tweet with the hashtag #IDidntReadPiratedMangaToday, which sparked significant discussion on social media. Within just one month, the video surpassed 10 million views (total of YouTube and X). It won the Grand prix and Creative Effectiveness Category at the 4th YouTube Works Awards, as well as numerous other advertising awards including the Grand Prix in the Advertiser Category at the 11th BOVA, Excellence Award in the CM Category at the 61st Galaxy Awards, and Excellence Award at the Digital Content of the Year ’23 / 29th AMD Awards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJZrmX9oWj4
• What is the General Incorporated Association ABJ?
The ABJ is a legal entity established in July 2020 by publishers, e-book distributors, and internet-related businesses to combat the rampant spread of piracy sites. Its main activities include issuing the “ABJ Mark” to indicate legitimate e-book distribution services, collecting and providing information on piracy sites, conducting awareness campaigns such as “STOP! MANGA PIRACY” and making recommendations for improving the legal environment for the digital publishing industry. These activities are carried out in cooperation with related organizations and government agencies.
*We independently estimated the amount of money lost due to the free reading of manga (including works from Japan, Korea and China) on the top ten major English-language pirate sites. The calculation is based on the assumption that reading one volume of a comic on a pirate site equates to a loss of 500 yen.
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