Championing environmental action with Ultraman and Ethical Steel

Kyoei Steel Co., Ltd. has launched a new campaign featuring the iconic Japanese superhero Ultraman to promote its “Ethical Steel” product line. This is an effort to increase public and industry awareness of the company’s circular manufacturing process.

For over 35 years, Kyoei Steel has operated a resource-circulating business that uses electric arc furnaces to manufacture steel products while simultaneously detoxifying and processing medical and industrial waste. To better communicate the social and environmental value of this process, the company has branded these products as “Ethical Steel.” The company defines the product as “steel manufactured while processing medical and industrial waste, with traceability secured from production to shipment.” Since April 2025, all of Kyoei Steel’s business sites have been producing and selling steel under this designation.

The new campaign uses Ultraman as its public face and includes a special website, a series of newspaper advertisements, and limited-edition product tags. The company explained the choice of character by stating, “Together with the universally known hero, Ultraman, we are another ‘hero’ that has been steadily protecting the future of the Earth.” The campaign draws a parallel between Ultraman, a hero who protects the planet, and Kyoei Steel’s work in tackling difficult-to-treat waste materials.

For business clients who specifically order Ethical Steel, Kyoei Steel will provide special order-specific tags, an “Ethical Steel Certificate” to accompany the mill sheet, and Ultraman-themed memorabilia for the property owner, with the scale of the gift depending on the order volume. According to the company, the design on the order-specific tag, which features Ultraman’s famous Spacium Beam pose, was created to align with the ‘+’ symbol of Ethical Steel, representing the transformation of waste into a “positive force for society.”