In contrast to “Shiyoh Hirano,” who is making great strides… “Takuya Kimura, Masaki Aiba, and Sho Sakurai,” who were the signature talents, are struggling greatly.

Shiyoh Hirano, a former member of King & Prince, is now a member of Number_i. After moving to Hideaki Takizawa’s company TOBE, she has been appointed as an image character for companies and products one after another, and is making rapid progress. However, Takuya Kimura and other talents who belonged to the former Johnny’s office (now SMILE-UP.) have seen a decrease in commercials across the board.

Hirano made his debut on January 1 this year with his first digital single “GOAT” together with former King & Prince members Yuta Kishi and Yuta Jinguji. As an individual, he became the new commercial character for Suntory gin “SUI,” and the new commercial has been on-air sequentially nationwide since February 10. In February, he appeared in a commercial for Digital Hollywood University, which was released on the web and aired as a one-night-only special TV commercial on February 16.

He also became the image character of the “Bausch & Lomb Aqualox” series of contact lenses; he was also the image character of the one-day disposable contact lenses “Bausch & Lomb Aqualox One Day UV Thin” in 2010 when he was King & Prince. According to Bausch + Lomb’s website, she is now a “re-signing” with Bausch + Lomb.

According to Bausch + Lomb’s website, during the period of Hirano’s appointment, “the number of followers on the official SNS account increased tenfold, and she attracted a great deal of attention” (original text in Japanese). Hirano will continue to appear in “various promotions” for the Bausch + Lomb Aqualox series.

Hirano, whose momentum never stops, has been selected as the new image character for Ikeda Mohan-do’s “Liquid Muhi S” and “Muhi Alpha EX Series” itching and bug bite medicines. Hirano’s appointment is the first time in two years, and an article on the news site “ORICON NEWS” (March 21, 2011) reported, “From mid-March, in-store boards and POP will be posted sequentially at pharmacies and drug stores nationwide. There is a possibility that a new commercial will be filmed for the summer, when demand for insect bite medicine increases.

Speaking of Hirano, on January 5, she reported on her Instagram that she had formed a partnership with the global fashion brand Louis Vuitton. On the same day, she became the Asia ambassador for Yves Saint Laurent Beauté, the beauty line of Yves Saint Laurent (YSL), and appeared in a web commercial for the YSL iconic lip “Rouge Pur Couture”. Recently, she attended an event for the new YSL Love Shine Lipstick in Paris, France (March 25, local time).

On the other hand, last year, in the wake of the sexual assault scandal involving the late Johnny’s, companies that used former Johnny’s talents in their advertising announced their policy of “non-renewal of contracts” one after another. For example, Kimura, who is one of the top individual talents, has had his contracts with Luxottica Japan, McDonald’s Japan, and Open House terminated since the beginning of this year.

Currently (as of March 30), six companies are listed in the CM section of the official FAMILY CLUB Official Site: Cube (MARK & LONA), Sega, Nissan Motor, Recruit Jobs (Town Work), Taisho Pharmaceutical, and Japan Sports Promotion Center. The new commercials for the golf apparel brand MARK & LONA will begin airing sequentially on March 19, but no other information on new TV commercials has been revealed.

In addition to Kimura, the number of commercials featuring the former Johnny’s talents has been decreasing dramatically. Before the sex abuse scandal, Sho Sakurai of Arashi, Masaki Aiba, and Junior Bishonen had appeared in commercials for Mitsuya Cider, an Asahi Soft Drinks Co. product. However, in February of this year, Asahi announced the appointment of actor Ryusei Yokohama and two-member music group Ikimono-gakari (Seie Yoshioka and Yoshiki Mizuno) to advertise the product. Sakurai’s contract with Aflac Life Insurance and Aiba’s contract with Tokio Marine & Nichido and others have also been terminated”.

According to the FAMILY CLUB Official Site, TOKIO is also under contract with Humakiller, Fukushima Prefecture’s “Prefectural Agricultural, Forestry, and Marine Products PR Project,” Marugame Seimen, Art Nature (Shigeru Johjima), and Marumiya Foods Industries (Taichi Kokubun). Yua Meister, Japanet Takata (Kokubu), Sapporo Beer (Masahiro Matsuoka), and Beltex (Matsuoka) were also previously on the list in the commercial section, but appear to have been removed since last October.

STARTO ENTERTAINMENT, the new management company of the former Johnny’s, will be fully operational in April. Will STARTO-affiliated talent be able to compete with Hirano’s momentum in the future?