Freshness Burger, a national burger chain in Japan, came up with an innovative way to convince reluctant female customers to take a great big bite of the chain’s biggest burger. For Japanese women, having a small and modest mouth – “ochobo” – is regarded as attractive, and having a large, open mouth in public is regarded as “ugly” and “rude”. It’s considered good manners to cover one’s mouth when women need to open up wide. Enter the Liberation Wrapper – and it worked – boosting sales of that big burger by 213% compared to the previous month’s sales after introduction at Freshness Burger.
A grateful hat tip to Sociological Images for this unique cultural marketing example.
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The Ethical Nag 
I have to say I think the idea of the Liberation Wrapper is hilarious, but I don’t live in Japan. And I can see why I should never, ever live in Japan, if a small mouth is considered best! (grin)
Yes, me too! In my city, we have a large number of Japanese students who come here to learn English – this may help to explain why young Japanese women almost always cover their mouths with their hands while giggling (which they seem to do a lot of…)
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This is an interesting post, because as an American woman, it has never occurred to me to cover my mouth while biting into something. Sure, it might happen after you close your mouth to clean up whatever you think didn’t make it in, but not always. What is interesting is someone knows how Japanese women are judged. Was it a man or woman who developed this product? This is a unique product that requires a special and unique approach.
Not just understanding women, but cultural norms. My bet is that all Japanese marketers are well aware of the Japanese culture in which they live and work. We North Americans are unaware of this specific cultural taboo because that’s not part of our general culture.