Photo courtesy Meiji Seika Kaisha
A confectioner in Japan celebrated Valentine’s Day by unveiling a gigantic fibreglass-reinforced plastic (FRP) billboard in the shape of a chocolate bar adjacent to its factory.
Meiji Seika Kaisha produces milk chocolate and other sweets in Takatsuki, about halfway between Kyoto and Osaka, and its factory sits near the Japan Railways (JR) Tokaido Line and the Hankyu Kyoto Line. The 27.6 x 165.9-m (90.5 x 544.3-ft) text-free billboard is designed to catch the eye of train passengers as they speed by.
The sign, which was about two and a half years in the planning, comprises 42 blocks, each resembling a segment of a chocolate bar. After installing it along the factory’s railway-facing wall, the company has applied to the Guinness World Records to have it registered as the largest plastic advertising billboard in the world.
For greater visibility, the giant chocolate bar was also illuminated at night from February 11 to 14. Reports suggest chocolatiers in Japan see more than half of their annual sales in the week leading up to Valentine’s Day.
