Toyota uses manga to woo kids, influence parents

This may trouble me more than Marvel's promotion of the Fantastic Four in classrooms: Australia's Seven News reports that Toyota is using a "manga-style comic book" to reach children, who have an "enormous power" over their parents' car-buying decisions.

The 32-page comic will be distributed in Australia and New Zealand as an insert in the March edition of K-Zone, a magazine for 6 to 13-year-olds produced by Seven Network's Pacific Magazines division.

"K-Zone is absolutely committed to giving our readers what they want, and as our latest online survey shows, Australian kids love cars," Australian editor Kathryn Wakelin said in a statement.

K-Zone sister publications in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines also will carry the comic, as will other magazines in China, South Korea and Japan. Copies will be distributed directly to kids in Shanghai and Beijing and at the Toyota-sponsored 2005 World Exposition in Japan.