A PSA from VTuber Rika Tosada was removed due to pressure from the women’s rights group: the Feminist Parliamentary League.
Rika is a VTuber associated with the company VASE. VASE was contacted to do public safety videos in the city of Matsudo where one of their talents Rika Tosada lives.
The videos included public safety announcements included important safety tips like wearing reflective clothing while walking out at night, intersection right-of-ways, and other advice like not drinking and biking.
The videos have allegedly been removed from Matsudo’s YouTube page but they can be found below from VASE themselves.
The CEO of the VTuber group Setsuko Itakura announced the removal of the videos in a press release which was posted to Twitter.
【VTuber戸定梨香PR動画が、
女性蔑視で削除される件について】フェミニスト議員連盟の抗議から感じたことです。 pic.twitter.com/Zlzo0LN9vm
— 板倉節子 / Setsuko Itakura (@ASE_Itakura) September 9, 2021
This pressure from feminist organizations to remove anime women from marketing and public service announcements has become more coercive in recent years. Last year, a collaboration with Nishiura Mikan (a brand of oranges) and Love Live Sunshine was cancelled due to similar pressure.
Though the most noteworthy example of this kind of pressure at work is from 2019 when a collaboration with Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out! and the Japanese Red Cross to encourage citizens to donate blood was canceled.
