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The story
When Nippon Ham reduced the amount of its staple sausage product “Shau Essen,” the company used the slogan “We won’t lose to the times!” (a euphemism for the downsizing) to announce it, sparking a wave of criticism on 5ch. Frustration erupted over the tactic of dressing up the fact of a reduced quantity in upbeat language instead of stating it plainly, with some users invoking Yukijirushi Dairy — the company that dissolved after a food-poisoning scandal — to say Nippon Ham “looks set to become the next Yukijirushi.” In the thread, the main talking points were a comparison showing that rival Ito Ham’s “Alt Bayern” is actually the better deal even at the same sale price, and a contrast with Nissin, which openly states its price hikes without dressing them up.
What people said
Goodbye, Nippon Ham
"We made it a smaller, easier-to-eat size" lol
Smaller and easier to eat, easier for women to hold, blah blah — how many times are they going to hide the downside for consumers behind a positive spin and blow up in their faces? Learn already.
If anything, this is the kind of screwup that threatens the company's very survival.
Guess the ad agency hired an idiot?
Even backlash experts aren't staying quiet
The fact that there are so many similar flare-ups means this kind of ad spin must be an established template in the industry.
This person had a post a while back talking about the DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan) government — it was really easy to follow.
And on top of that, Nippon Ham had teased the day before that they had a "major announcement" coming.
That just makes people think "maybe they're increasing the amount? 😊" or "maybe they're lowering the price? 🥹"
Then it turns out to just be "we reduced the amount" — of course people are going to be furious.
Whoever runs their social media should just stick to announcing good news.
So why do companies keep trying to disguise price hikes, sparking backlash over and over?
Though, there was also that cartel thing, by the way.
The story is that when you compare the weight before and after the change, the old version was actually heavier.
Lying on top of a lame excuse is just not okay.
What generation are they, I wonder?
Japan's the only country in the world that does that (lol)
That's not quite it, though~
Exactly, there's no need to apologize at all.
Just stay quiet on social media.
No need to posture or act tough either.
I don't hate this kind of silly joke
Even among companies from the same city, Osaka, the fortunes really diverged here.
This.
Big-company people are surprisingly dumb, lol
In the first place, they're just picking whichever one sounds good from a handful of taglines the ad agency came up with — they're not really thinking it through.
ps://i.imgur.com/EkrauFg.jpg
ps://i.imgur.com/y6L7Alf.jpeg
ps://i.imgur.com/2HfLSeC.jpg
Guess they couldn't beat the times after all…
Making wishy-washy excuses totally backfires.
Even among "evils," a powerful villain with real conviction ends up loved, while a weak one that only looks out for itself gets hated.
Japan right now has gotten weird because the voices of the weak, trying to get their weakness accepted, have gotten too loud.
Management: "Get to work" → Marketing: "Hmm, there's nothing good to highlight about this downgrade…" → "I know! I'll tell a positive lie that'll satisfy the higher-ups!"
They even raised prices two months in a row at one point.
Well, they've got to raise wages and boost shareholder dividends too.
【Capacity and Price Comparison】
■Shau Essen (Nippon Ham)
・Net weight: 214g (107g × 2 packs)
・List price: ¥702 (tax included)
・Sale price: roughly ¥398–450
■Grand Alt Bayern (Ito Ham)
・Net weight: 234g (117g × 2 packs)
・List price: ¥710 (tax included)
・Sale price: roughly ¥398–450
★Key points
・Alt Bayern comes with 20g more per 2 packs (about one extra sausage).
・When sold at the same sale price (e.g. ¥398), Alt Bayern works out cheaper per gram — the better deal.
Wait, these things have such a high list price??? I only ever knew the sale price.
I bet this is a classic case of someone who just moved out on their own going "guess I'll grab some sausages!" at the supermarket and getting a shock at the price.
Yeah, Alt Bayern's the one, as expected.
Ryuji (the famous home-cooking YouTuber) said companies like to keep prices unchanged because of the extra burden it puts on checkout operations.
That's because they want to get criticism down to zero.
Same as how a cut player gets relabeled a "non-tender" instead of just "released." (baseball term)
Because if they did that, people would just go "that's expensive!" and not buy it.
Background and key points of this topic
The Shau Essen controversy centers on the fact that Nippon Ham reduced the product’s quantity while announcing it with the upbeat slogan “We won’t lose to the times!” — a move that triggered backlash against so-called stealth price hikes (shrinkflation). The “Yukijirushi” reference in the thread points to Yukijirushi Dairy, the company forced to dissolve after a mass food-poisoning incident in 2000, reflecting just how seriously users view this backlash as a threat to the brand’s survival. That said, it’s worth noting that the gram-and-price comparison discussed in the thread was one user’s own summary based on an AI chatbot’s answer, not an official statement from Nippon Ham or Ito Ham. The contrast with a company like Nissin, which openly states its price increases without dressing them up, also helped highlight just how strong this backlash has been.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Bad News] Nippon Ham looks set to become the next Yukijirushi over the Shau Essen situation….”
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