It’s easy to think that it’s just the U.S. advertising industry, which is being tortured by the economic decline, although many other countries are also suffering. On Friday, Dentsu Inc. said that its parent-only sales fell 20.8% on the year. It’s the first 20% decline in a decade. Newspapers fell a record 36.7% and magazines 24.9%. TV swooned to 16.9% and the internet took a 8.7% hit, as well.
A few weeks ago,Gary Wenzel, chief operating officer of TBWA/Hakuhodo, said: “It’s hard to be optimistic right now. By far, the biggest and toughest-hit is the auto industry, which is huge in Japan.”
The country also announced a record current account deficit in January. For the first time in 13 years, Japan is in the red due not only to the auto industry, but a general slump in exports, as well as the world economy. To top of the bad news – Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa resigned last week after a drunken performance at a G-7 summit. In case you missed that spectacle, hit play on the video above.
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