Who eats tomatoes while they run in the first place? No one… and Japanese ketchup company, Kagome would like to change that.
Dole has been sponsoring the Japan Marathon for years, supplying runners with ready to eat bananas to gnosh on-the-go for a quick boost of nutrients. Part of their advertising campaign this year is a Wearable-edible Banana that runners can eat hands free. Out of good humor and a desire to one-up the absurdity level, Kagome worked with known Japanese group, Maywa Denki to create the Tomatan, a smiling contraption that mounts on a runner’s shoulders and delivers tomatoes from a hopper directly into their face… as a reminder that though Japan could be eating wearable bananas, they could just as easily eat mechanically dispensed tomatoes instead.
Why is this awesome? When we’re talking about silliness and commercialism in Japan, the aforementioned Maywa Denki seems to always surface like a nonsense wielding genie. If you haven’t heard the name, this company is actually the identity of an artist group. They have a reputation for inventing mechanical gizmos that are humorously ridiculous, and then marketing them as serious products part of the Maywa Denki brand. The sixteen-pound piggy-back tomato feeder meant to help improve a runner’s stamina is just one example of their many “nonsense machines”.
When we bring the things we create to market, they are usually presented to the world as products of some sort. Maywa Denki bends this common concept of the product to create an identity around their works of art. Because why not solve an imaginary problem that doesn’t really need a solution?
Makes you wonder what kind of obnoxious contraption you’d build to wear in a crowd, huh?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUXj5bZcNaY
Dole Japan’s Wearable Banana propaganda:
Man, I love the Japanese. That banana video made my day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CiE32h55HI
wat.
those clagy japanese
Obnoxious contraption to wear in a crowd, eh?
Do I smell another Hackaday contest in the wind? B^)
I could see that being a lot of fun.
I can’t think of anything nice to say so I will leave it at that.
Yet you still felt the need to comment, you fucking jackass.
This was a reasonable response until we reached the comma. At which point you became a flamer.
I’m glad they made a tomato backpack for the little guys. I initially thought he pooped out a tomato then fed it to you…
@Sarah:
“Dole Japan’s Wearable Banana propaganda”
In case you didn’t undersand: This a humourous publicity. They didn’t made a wearable banana. They are making fun of “wearable craze”. This as fun as the first video.
Dang it. Now I want a Dole Whip…Time to search flight prices.
Ah, the humorous combination of two things I hate with a passion, tomatoes and sports.
That device almost makes me wish I liked tomatoes. Physical activity IS good though.
Years ago I conceived of the idea of hard cases for bananas so that they would not be bruised while mountain biking. Alas, there were no ‘adruinos’ nor kickstarter back then to bring my idea to fruition.
Here we are in the days of [sic] ‘adruinos’ and kickstarter. Where are your hard-shell banana cases?
Banana hard cases have existed for at least a decade.
Ahh the hillarious combination of two things I hate with a passion, sedentary nerds and unhealthy eaters.
These guys are truly awesome, check out their other stuff – I especially like the Otamatone Deluxe, it is just screaming to be hacked!
I’ll wait for the Golden Arch Gizmo where it feeds me Big Macs while I run.
Linkrot on the videos :(