UNIQLO’s Initial Black Lives Matter Statement Highlights Japanese Marketing Struggles
Today, June 3rd, 2020, is a tumultuous time right now in the US as many Americans protest against the systemic racism that has plagued society for hundreds of years.
It's a time for us, at the very least, to listen, learn and reflect.
As an American working at an agency doing marketing in Japan, I’ve become aware of the differences in marketing strategies, brand communication, customer expectations, internal struggles, etc. in Japan versus the US.
UNIQLO recently posted a statement during these protests in which they got heat for. They were able to make up for it nicely, but it does highlight an issue Japanese brands face when marketing internationally.
On average, Americans care a lot more about than just if a product is good, affordable, or from a longstanding brand. In the social media era, where everyone has a camera, production studio and mass media broadcasting capabilities in their hands, people care about transparency.
What is the role you feel your company plays in society? What are its values? Sure, you make a good product but how do you treat your employees?
Research has even shown it to be good for customer loyalty.
64% of consumers who have a relationship with a brand cite “shared values” as the main reason.
77% of consumers say that they at least sometimes purchase products or services from a brand solely because they believe in the brand’s values/reputation and they want to support them. 2 out of 5 young people make purchases based on this regularly.
Because of this, we often see companies in America communicate about their actions and values. When the effects of COVID-19 began to take place, many were quick to communicate about the measures they were taking, even before government decisions to lockdown.
It's the same for Black Lives Matter. Here are some examples.
There are many more examples.
Each of these posts clearly state their values and their positions on the issues. It should also be mentioned that when some have asked if they're making donations, some brands (like Diamond Foundry) have responded to them saying exactly where they're donating.
Now let’s look at UNIQLO’s initial post:
Some of the popular comments:
This is so vague. If you're going to put up a support message, address the community that you intend to support, address them directly because they need the support. Posting an empty message like this is nothing short of following a trend....
U SAID NOTHING.
Fire your PR team. This is a pathetic collection of words at a time when words and action are everything. That's a whole lot of words to say absolutely nothing! Way to use your platform to take zero stance.
Is this the first AI-written PR message? Because it's so non-specific and feels like an imitation. Sorry, but a bunch of vague words in white on a black background isn't it.
When I first read the post, I also stopped and though, "Wait, what did they actually say?"
In the other examples, the brands clearly state their position on a specific matter, even released statements about which organizations they're donating to and what actions they are taking in order to support their position.
UNIQLO didn't initially do this. They did not define who is feeling the pain, what diversity means to them, what specific actions they're taking, etc.
The reluctance to take a firm stand or voice a strong opinion is a common shortcoming of many Japanese companies.
There is a fear of being disliked, especially due to being rooted in a group-oriented society with comparatively low diversity. There’s a lot of trying to stand out without disrupting, and the outcome is often vanilla messaging: “Cute!”, “The most popular!” “Great for everyone!”
That type messaging doesn't work in markets with greater ethnic, religious, sexual and intellectual diversity and individuality.
My guess is that there was probably an internal struggle between the UNIQLO US team and UNIQLO Japan office, and that's why the message became a diluted mess.
UNIQLO, to their credit, managed to respond to the situation quite well.
Here is UNIQLO’s follow-up:
They showed that they’re listening and got specific in explaining what actions they’re taking. So far, the response has been largely positive.
It's a good example for future Japanese brands with foreign aspirations to learn from.