Marketeers at Japanese confectionery firm Ezaki Glico have been forced to admit that the new 16-year-old member of very young girl band AKB 48 they depicted to sell their chocolate was a computer-generated fake, with features and singing voice cobbled together from six live band members.

Teenaged girl fans of the band became suspicious of the fake female, named Aimi Eguchi, when they noticed her striking similarity to other band members.