Former Morning Musume members become Afternoon Musume for coffee CMs

Seven of Morning Musume's OG members have been appointed as the new image characters for Coca-Cola's coffee product "Georgia Go-Houbi Break." Together, they will be known as the unit "Afternoon Musume," though their activities will be limited to the new series of commercials.

Afternoon Musume consists of Yuko Nakazawa, Kaori Iida, Natsumi Abe, Kei Yasuda, Makoto Ogawa, Mari Yaguchi, and Miki Fujimoto. The seven of them will play attendants in the commercials, which will tell a story set in the samurai quarters.

The first commercial will feature only five of the members (without Yaguchi and Fujimoto), though actor Keisuke Koide will also make an appearance. The commercial's song will include lyrics such as "afternoon coffee nomou yo, gogo ni," reminiscent of Morning Musume's debut single "Morning Coffee" (which had the line "morning coffee nomou yo, futari de"). Broadcast of the commercial is set to begin on September 8.

Yaguchi and Fujimoto are set to appear in the second commercial of the series, but no starting date has been announced for it yet.

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