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The story
Sankyu Mart, a variety-goods chain where everything is priced at a flat 390 yen (429 yen tax included), has canceled the launch of “Growing Fast with Your Oshi and Milk!” — a line of fan-merch that had been set to open pre-orders on the 18th. The series, themed around fruit milk with milk- and cow-motif costumes for plush toys, acrylic keychains, and more, had been planned for release at stores nationwide from mid-November. The cancellation came after a wave of complaints from fans that the goods’ color lineup overlapped with the member colors of the five-member group “M!LK.” On 5channel threads, though, plenty of posters questioned the complaint itself, pointing out that “milk” is a generic word to begin with and that similar color lineups aren’t unusual for other idol merch either.
September 18, 2026
Sankyu Mart, the popular 390-yen (429 yen tax included) flat-price variety store operated by Elsonic Co., Ltd., updated its official site on the 18th to announce it was canceling the launch of “Growing Fast with Your Oshi and Milk!,” goods that had been set to open pre-orders that same day on the official online shop. The product had drawn a wave of comments saying it evoked the five-member dance-and-vocal group “M!LK.”
The series was themed around “fruit milk,” offering fan-merch items with milk and cow motifs — including costumes for plush toys, card holders, and acrylic frame keychains. Pre-orders were set to open online at noon on the 18th, with sales at stores nationwide to follow from mid-November.
Source: news.livedoor.com / Original article here
What people said
Unlike Johnny's, is Stardust just strict about this?
It's not the agency kicking up a fuss, it's the fans
Something about it totally overlapping with the member colors
dunno the details though
M!LK's member colors are white, yellow, pink, red, and blue, so yeah, it was probably intentional
But complaining over something this minor is such a "well I'm a woman, so…" move (mocking people who play the gender-victim card to justify a complaint)
There's no green, purple, or orange — the usual "safe" colors for oshi-merch — so it is pretty blatant
Wait, has Milk had members quit or something?
lol what an idiot
They should've at least shifted the colors, or put out like 8 color variants
Did they really do a 5-color lineup?
Those 5 colors are literally M!LK's member colors
At this rate no one could ever use dairy products in merch again
Makes no sense
Whoever at the company approved that title is dumb, and whoever wrote that catchphrase — in-house or an outside copywriter — is way too dumb
Are this group's fans mostly the difficult type?
You're the ones getting in everyone's way
> Wait, has Milk had members quit or something?
<M!LK (Stardust Promotion)>
2014
Started with 5 members: Itagaki Mizuki, Sano Hayato, Shiozaki Taichi, Yamazaki Yuki, Yoshida Hihito
June 2018
Yamazaki Yuki leaves — down to 5
August 2018
Yamanaka Jutaro, Sono Shunta, Miyase Ryuga join — up to 7
January 2020
Itagaki Mizuki and Miyase Ryuga leave — down to 5
Been active since way back then and only just now broke through
Gotta respect the persistence
You already swamped search results for "Stones," and you're still at it? (referencing past complaints that fans flooded web searches for an ordinary word)
Stardust fans, not Johnny's
Does this actually touch on copyright or portrait rights or anything?
It's not a word used exclusively for idols, but you can see why people would read it as intentional
A retreat born from pushing it right up to the line
Whoever planned this was an idiot
Background and Points of Debate
M!LK is a group under Stardust Promotion whose member colors are white, yellow, pink, red, and blue — five colors in all. Since the new milk-themed merch used an almost identical five-color lineup, fans flagged it as “evocative” of the group. It’s easy to miss that no copyright or trademark infringement was ever established here — this was a voluntary cancellation by the company in response to complaints about impression alone. Thread opinion was split: some questioned why a mere color overlap should be enough to force a product’s cancellation, while others criticized the group for adopting a generic word like “milk” as its name in the first place. As the fan-merch market keeps expanding rapidly, clashes like this — between member colors or motifs and products from unrelated genres — seem likely to keep happening.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “Sankyu Mart cancels product launch after fans say it evokes “M!LK,” apologizes: “We sincerely apologize”.”
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