Tokyo: The conflict in the Middle East is having a bizarre impact on supermarkets and convenience stores across Japan, with packaging of many popular brands being turned monochrome, an unprecedented event.
According to Thai News Agency, recent weeks have seen the packaging of many well-known brands switching to monochrome due to the conflict between the United States and Israel and Iran in the Middle East. This has disrupted shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, causing a shortage of naphtha, a petroleum-derived substance crucial for printing inks and plastics. Major Japanese food manufacturers have therefore been forced to reduce the color on their packaging to cut production costs and maintain stable product deliveries.
Starting with Calbee, Japan's largest snack manufacturer, which is redesigning the packaging of 14 of its main products, including potato chips, Kappa Ebisen shrimp crackers, and Frugra cereal, to a two-tone black and white design. Fujiya, a popular confectionery brand, is preparing to redesign the packaging of 10 different cookie and other products by removing the blue and green colors, as well as the images of the snacks inside the packaging. Itoham Foods is adjusting the packaging of its product lines to use only three colors in printing. Meanwhile, Kagome, a major ketchup producer, announced packaging adjustments due to tight ink supply chain issues.
It's not just mainstream brands; FamilyMart, the giant convenience store chain, is preparing to reduce the amount of color on the packaging of its Famimaru product line this summer and is beginning to switch to plastic-reduced bags to conserve resources. Similarly, Donki states that switching to black and white packaging and thinner plastic bottles can reduce production costs by almost 10 percent.
Although the outer packaging may seem colorless to some consumers, all companies insist that the recipe, taste, and quality of the product inside remain exactly the same. Meanwhile, the minimalist and unusual image of these black and white snack packages on the shelves in Japanese supermarkets is becoming an accidental marketing trend because they stand out and contrast sharply with other products on the shelves.