SHIRO! Shorts is a series of tiny articles focusing on various aspects of the Saturn Universe.
SEGA’s North American ads during the Genesis era were edgy and routinely featured various celebrities. When Saturn advertising arrived, SEGA definitely struck a softer tone… still, there were several memorable ads in which various actors and models promoted the product. In Japan, it was quite the different story as Segata Sanshiro, played by the legendary Hiroshi Fujioka, stormed the airwaves and became the firm’s iconic mascot against Sony’s Evil Empire.
People’s first look at a Saturn media ‘representative’ came from the mysterious ‘bald lady’ in the early Head for Saturn ad campaign. In our exclusive interview with the creator of the ad campaign, Mr. Ken Loh revealed her to be Hannah Syn (sp) however, we have not been successful in finding this particular model on the internets. We ask anyone with information on this mysterious woman to come forward with her real identity! We would love to properly acknowledge her!
In the meantime, here is a 20 second clip where Ken explains who she was.
Ione Skye and Ice Cube were brought on as the first set of two ‘celebrities’ for the campaign and ended up being the last. Photographed by Eric Tucker, here they are in the ads, as well as their contemporary photos.
The later ‘Nothing Else Matters’ campaign brought perhaps the most famous of Saturn print ads, featuring Barbara Moore. Barbara’s involvement with the Saturn came after her appearance as a centerfold in Playboy’s 1992 December issue, but before her role as one of the Fembots in the comedy film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Barbara went on to become a two-time competitive national ballroom dancing champion as well as a dance instructor.
There were others involved in acting / modeling for SEGA during the Saturn years. If you have any information on others who have participated in the spots, or have participated in these adverts yourself, please drop us a line at contact@segasaturnshiro.com; we would love to hear from you!
A Saturn fan since the beginning, Peter plays Saturn almost exclusively. For Peter, Saturn represents a moment in time where 2D games were at their best, 3D was just rising, and fascinating gaming ‘firsts’ were commonplace. There are very few Saturn games that Peter cannot find some enjoyment in!
Amazing mini article Peter!! Looking forward to reading your future articles and of course — GAMING NIGHT!! ;-D
Hello there, Peter. Thank you for the excellent article on these classic Saturn ad campaigns!
I just wanted to say that the “bald lady” Saturn actress’s name is actually spelled Hannah Sim. Shes more than likely best known for being one of the performers in Tool’s music video for Schism. The other being her partner in their artsy stage act, Osseus Labyrint. Aside from that she’d been in a few other movies mostly as a stunt and visual effects artist.
I actually just found out she recently passed away this past year sadly. A very lovely and talented lady gone much too soon from this world 🙁
Wow, mystery solved!! Thank you sir – this was bugging us all here at Shiro for quite some time. And, sad indeed that she passed away. 🙁
Damn, didn’t know she was gone. I performed with her in Tokyo with the butoh troupe Harupin Ha in 1991. She was an inspiring and witty human. Many fond memories of her.