“National MACLORD MOVIE MC15 × George Lucas & C-3PO”, Original Japanese Promotional Advertising Poster / Roadshow Magazine Supplement 1988, Double-Sided B2 Size (51 x 73cm) Q151
This is an original Japanese B2 double-sided promotional advertising poster issued in 1988 by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., now Panasonic, for the National MACLORD MOVIE MC15 / NV-MC15 VHS-C camcorder campaign. Distributed as a fold-out supplement in the Japanese film magazine Roadshow, the poster features a rare and humorous advertising pairing of George Lucas and C-3PO.
Campaign background
During the late 1980s, Panasonic / National ran a high-profile Japanese advertising campaign using George Lucas to promote its consumer video technology. The campaign connected Lucas’s reputation for cinematic imagination and technical innovation with National’s home-video products, placing Hollywood science-fiction culture directly into Japanese electronics advertising.
The poster’s main slogan reads 「ルーカスの空想力。」 — “Lucas’s Imagination.” This directly links the product to Lucas’s creative identity, while the lower-right campaign copy 「いつも SOMETHING NEW」 presents the camcorder as part of National’s forward-looking consumer electronics line.
Poster design
A wonderfully distinctive late-1980s Japanese advertising image. On the left, George Lucas stands in denim shirt and jeans holding a compact camcorder. Beside him, C-3PO appears with a butterfly net, creating a surreal and playful contrast between science-fiction iconography and everyday consumer technology.
The muted grey studio background gives the composition a clean, editorial quality, while the product information at lower right shows the National MACLORD MOVIE MC15 / NV-MC15 camcorder system. The lower-left corporate line includes Matsushita’s period branding: “Human Electronics” and the company name 松下電器産業株式会社.
Reverse side
The verso carries a full poster-style image for The Big Town, the 1987 romantic crime drama starring Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, and Tommy Lee Jones, with Bruce Dern, Tom Skerritt, Lee Grant, and Suzy Amis. The reverse design is highly graphic, with casino imagery, red dice, neon-style typography, and a large dramatic portrait of Matt Dillon.
This double-sided format makes the piece especially interesting: one side is a Japanese National / Panasonic George Lucas advertising poster, while the reverse serves as a film-poster supplement for The Big Town.
Rarity and significance
Original Japanese advertising posters featuring major Western film figures are increasingly collectible, particularly when connected to Star Wars, George Lucas, and 1980s Japanese electronics culture. This example is especially unusual because it combines Lucas, C-3PO, National / Panasonic camcorder advertising, and a full film-poster reverse in one original B2-format magazine supplement.
As a fold-out insert, it was not produced as a conventional retail poster and would usually have been handled, folded, or discarded after reading. Surviving examples in displayable condition are therefore increasingly difficult to find.
Condition
Very Good. Original fold lines, consistent with a fold-out magazine supplement from the period. Please review the photos—they show the exact poster for sale.
It is over 38 years old!
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
