China has a love/hate relationship with porn. As the world's most populated country, it would be virtually impossible for them to outright ban pornography—though lord knows they've tried. Now the likeness of one of the Japan's biggest porn stars is being used to sell swipe cards by China's neighbor Taiwan, and wouldn't you know, they sold out in just over four hours.
According to the New York Daily News (link below), the 15,000 pre-paid cards featuring (fully clothed) images of Yui Hatano can be used to pay for everything from rides on the metro in Taipei to items in a convenience store.
Lin Hsiao-chi, spokeswoman for card producer EasyCard, said that the photos conveyed a "fresh, healthy and beautiful" image.
"This set of cards is suitable to put in your wallet and collect. When you look at it, it will cheer you up,” she added.
Man alive I love that quote. It would look great on a Successories poster, wouldn't it?
Although many complaints about the cards were lodged and some stores even refused to carry them, a portion of the proceeds from their sale is going to go to charity, so suck on that you sticks in the mud. Ms. Hatano has yet to comment on being featured on the card, but this picture of her has prompted me to dub her the Japanese Tina Fey...
Via NY Daily News