Largest Chocolate Bar Billboard: Meiji Seika Kaisha Ltd. sets world record
TAKATSUKI, Osaka, Japan -- A giant billboard that looks like a chocolate bar, measuring 166 meters in width and 28m in height, was unveiled at a confectionery factory in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture; it sets the world record for theLargest Chocolate Bar Billboard. Photo: A gigantic billboard in the form of a chocolate bar was unveiled Tuesday at Meiji Seika Kaisha confectionary factory in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, ahead of Valentine's Day. Photo: Kyodo (enlarge photo)
It is customary in Japan for women to give chocolates to men during Valentine's Day on Feb 14.
The Guinness world record for the Largest rotating three-sided billboard (advertisement) was set by the advertisement board attached to the walls of the Janianhua Mansion of the Chongqing Financial Real Estate company in Chongqing, China, which has a total surface area of 5,748 m² (61,871 ft²).
Guinness World Records also recognizedthe Most brands advertising on one single billboard world record:1,233, achieved by Discovery Exhibition Organizers (U.A.E) in Festival City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
It is placed along the outer surface of the factory, which makes chocolate and other products, with the intention of catching the eye of train passengers on the JR Tokaido Line and the Hankyu Kyoto Line running nearby.
The company plans to light up the Largest Choclate Bar Billboard In The World, dubbed ''Big Miruchi,'' at night between Feb 11 and 14. Miruchi is an abbreviation of milk chocolate in Japanese.
Scientists are reporting discovery of how chocolate boosts the body's production of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) ? the "good" form of cholesterol that protects against heart disease.
Photo: A train passes Meiji Seika Kaisha Ltd.'s chocolate factory, which sports a facade representing the sweets, in Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, on Tuesday. KYODO PHOTO (enlarge photo)
Midori Natsume, and colleagues from Meiji Seika Kaisha, Ltd. note that studies have shown that cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate, appears to reduce the risk of heart disease by boosting levels of HDL, or "good" cholesterol, and decreasing levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad" cholesterol.
Credit for those heart-healthy effects goes to a cadre of antioxidant compounds in cocoa called polyphenols, which are particularly abundant in dark chocolate.
