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Originally Posted by emilysturdivant
I've heard that Kit Kat candy has taken on a whole new life in Japan from its origins in the West, mostly through public radio here: Kit Kat Kaleidoscope: Far-Out Flavors From Japan : NPR The story doesn't mention this, but I heard that they have become a good luck token?
I'm doing a project on Kit Kats in Japan and would love more information on how the candy, and the greater trend that it represents, may have affected Japanese culture. How have the Japanese adapted the candy to become more representative of their culture? As much detail, from anecdotes to general knowledge, would be much appreciated! |
The way many North Americans react when they discover that in Japan we have unique flavors in whatever product that doesn't originate from Japan keeps baffling me.
The article you posted sounds really off to me in that it's missing the whole point of these products. It doesn't matter if these products taste horrible to whoever lives outside of Japan because they aren't among the target consumers to start with. More importantly, companies don't create these new flavors to please the Japanese palate, either!
I laughed at the way Americans residing in Japan reacted and made Youtube videos when Pepsi introduced "Ice Cucumber" a couple of years ago. Why do you guys take everything seriously? If Pepsi really wanted to create a new flavor that would sell, they would have opted for pineapple or something instead of cucumber, wouldn't you think? The point is the new flavor had to strike as weird and crazy and tasted just as strange. Pepsi advertised it saying it would be available for a limited time only. Pepsi knew it wouldn't sell. It just wanted to get consumers talking about the crazy new flavor and uttering the brand name "Pepsi" to one another. And Pepsi won. We did talk about it and nearly everyone around me bought a bottle. Pepsi wanted to play a game. We played along and laughed but Americans made videos and criticized the flavor to the whole world when, in fact, Pepsi Ice Cucumber was no longer available by the time people watched those videos.
In Japan, companies are in serious competition with one another for the relatively limited shelf space in convenient stores, supermarkets and 100-yen shops. How do you get a better spot on the sheves even temporarily? Create crazy flavors that everyone will be talking about! KitKat is no exception. If you buy a pack of a new flavor along with your usual regular red pack, Nestle wins.