The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2024–2025
An overnight incident cost Yoshizawa Ryo his Asahi and Kao ads
An incident that surfaced in early January 2025 saw Asahi Beer and Kao pull Yoshizawa Ryo's commercials within days.
Asahi Beer · Kao · Yoshizawa Ryo · 2025-01-06
What happened
Yoshizawa Ryo was one of Japan's busiest actors in the mid-2020s — the lead of the 2025 NHK morning drama, a fixture of period dramas, and the face of campaigns for Asahi Beer and Kao among others. The beer maker had used him for years; Kao's commercials put him in family households across the country.
On the night of December 30, 2024 an incident involving the actor became public on January 6, 2025, when police said they were investigating. The same day, Asahi Beer removed his photos and commercial videos from its official website. Three days later Kao deleted his videos from its site as well.
Neither company announced a formal contract termination, but pulling the materials made the message: the campaigns were frozen. For a star whose value sat in advertising reach, the removal was the cost — visibility, and the campaigns behind it, gone overnight.
Why it happened
- Asahi Beer had built years of campaign equity on Yoshizawa's clean image; the headlines around the incident made that image a liability in a day.
- The story broke on January 6 and Asahi removed his materials the same day — a speed that shows how little tolerance advertisers have for legal-risk talent.
- Kao followed within three days, turning one incident into a two-brand pattern that told every other sponsor what to expect.
- There was no conviction and no formal termination, yet the ads disappeared — proving the cost of a scandal begins at the first headline, not at the verdict.
The lesson
Neither brand waited for a verdict — the headline was the breach. A celebrity's asset is not talent but the absence of a story; one bad story liquidates the contract.
Aftermath
By January 9, 2025, both Asahi Beer and Kao had removed Yoshizawa Ryo's commercial videos from their official websites. Police in Tokyo investigated the incident. No formal termination was announced, but the two removals within three days of the report ended the advertising run that had made him one of Japan's most visible faces; his dramas continued, but the commercial market moved on from him as a campaign lead.
Sources
- Sponichi — Asahi Beer deletes Yoshizawa Ryo CM videos from official site after drunk-trespass
- Nikkan Sports — Yoshizawa Ryo's Asahi Beer CM photos and videos disappear after drunk home-intrusion
- Sports Hochi — Kao also deletes Yoshizawa Ryo CM videos from official site, following Asahi Beer
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