Advertising: Bullfight Fans Are Seeing Red

• Share

The scene at the bullring in Plasencia, Spain, was like a page from a % Hemingway novel -- almost. A chorus of "Ole! Ole!" greeted Matador Luis Reina as he stepped into the arena last week bedecked in his sky-blue, gold- embroidered suit of lights. But the cheers turned to jeers when the crowd noticed the letters A-K-A-I in red silk running down his sleeves and pant legs. For the first time, a matador had sold space on his costume for advertising. The Japanese electronics firm (the name translates as "red" in Japanese) is paying the 29-year-old, second-class matador about $16,000 every time he enters the ring in his logo-embellished outfit. That is roughly ten times as much as his pay for bullfighting alone.