Gender difference and marketing in Japan

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A spokesperson from Toyos Suisan said that “The biggest consumers of instant noodles are men aged 20-40, and that it’s true that few women have the opportunity to eat them. That's why they decided to produce a brand of noodles that targets women specifically.”

Hoping to shake off the negative image surrounding cup noodles and to help women avoid experiencing “feelings of guilt” for dining on what many still consider to be little more than junk food, the company set out to produce instant noodles that not only help maintain a healthier nutritional balance than previous offerings but are also more esthetically pleasing.

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- But we have also examples of products oriented fo men.

As I said in a previous part of the lecture, men would be more reluctant to appropriate a product attributed to the other sex.

As Coca-Cola launched the Coca-Cola zero for men with its black package instead of the coca-cola light for women, Japanese introduced on the market a kind of "Pocky" destined to men.

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Though there are countless kinds of Pocky, the kind that is marketed as “Men’s” is advertised to be “not as sweet” and more mature than the other varieties. The idea behind this is, apparently, that masculine men don’t enjoy sweet “girly” candy, and prefer dark and bitter chocolate.

- Another example of gender difference in the food industry is those boxes of curry mix. By their colours we immediatly can see wich one is directed to females or males.

In this context the marketers added the concept of age to the concept of genders. The idea is that kids will see their favorite characters and convince their parents to buy this curry.

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Sources :

http://www.guided-selling.org/women-vs-men-gender-differences-in-purchase-decision-making/

http://www.thegortcloud.com/genderpower.html

http://www.e-marketing.fr/Marketing-Magazine/Article/Le-marketing-a-t-il-un-sexe--17775-1.htm#8PAwjgDSAbYJ63QZ.97

http://blog.alerti.com/fr/2013/08/le-gender-marketing-entre-cliches-et-progres-12/

https://www.japantoday.com/category/food/view/girly-noodles-is-japan-witnessing-start-of-a-female-oriented-instant-noodle-revolution

http://www.blork.org/blorkblog/2003/09/03/gender-based-pocky-chocky/

https://kansaifirefly.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/theme-gender-in-japan/