Winner of Doraemon Tool Design Contest Angered by Sponsor TV Asahi

The winners of the "Doraemon Secret Tools Design Contest" were announced on December 21st 2006 during an episode of the Doraemon anime. However, a woman who won the "Nice Idea Prize" was angered by one of the sponsors, TV Asahi, when she called up TV Asahi's customer service desk and was treated rudely. Later the woman complained about the incident in her blog, which raised many discussions regarding the topic.

According to "Amateur Journal," the lady claims that the telephone representative and the boss at the TV Asahi customer service desk were rude, and hung up when she called. Details of her inquiry are not available, but when her friend called the same help desk asking the same question, the broadcaster's response was different, making the woman even more upset.

Impressions of Doraemon have not been positive after the renewal and replacement of the anime's original crew (voice actors). Recently the staffs have been trying to raise public interest in the franchise through special events such as casting TV talents in the movie Nobita no Shin Makai Daibouken (Doraemon The Movie 2006) (due to be released in March). However, this incident could be seen as yet another indication of the present decline of Doraemon.

Source: Amateur-Journal