生娘をシャブ漬け戦略とは
早稲田大学の社会人向けマーケティング講座で、常勤取締役企画本部長の伊藤正明氏が、都市部で、主に食費を抑える必要のある学生か収入が多くない社会人が想定される10代から20代の女性に対する吉野家の牛丼の売り上げ向上をする施策を、女性の経済的社会的地位の低さを暗喩するような表現で語ったことが報じられました。株式会社吉野家ホールディングスは取締役解任の決議を即断し公表しました。
日本社会のジェンダー課題を象徴
解釈の仕方によっては、この男性取締役が、いかに女性を経済的社会的に低く見て、彼女らを一般化した「ターゲット層」としているかが伺えます。シャブ漬けとは、薬物乱用を指す隠語であり、「牛丼を好きになって繰り返し食べたくなる状態」を表現するために明らかに不適切でした。また、同時に地方から出てきて右も左もわからない女性という出身地についても言及。「男性に高い食事をおごってもらうまでのあいだにシャブ漬けにする」とは、都会生活を続けても女性は、経済的に自立するのが難しいと明言しているのか。女性としては、不快でかつ憤りを感じる発言です。このことは、日本社会に根強く浸透する女性蔑視の思想の表れではないでしょうか。女性の管理職割合、役員割合、国会議員割合、男女の賃金格差と非正規雇用の割合など、先進国中の地位は目を疑うような位置にあり、このような契機には声を上げる必要があります。
Z世代へのマーケティングは「スタンスを持っていることが重要」
このマーケティングのプロと称される人物の発言は、彼が牛丼のターゲット層としたZ世代（1990年代～2010年生まれ）に受け入れられることはないのではないか。若者層への惹きつけ戦略で重要とされる「企業理念への共感」、「企業がスタンスを持っていること」の重要性から考えると真逆です。地方から都会へ出て生活をする若い女性たちは、今後このような思想がある企業の食事には縁がなくなるでしょう。上層部が持つマーケティング戦略がこのように若者に対して侮辱的な企業のサービスや製品をZ世代の若者が購入することはないと思います。同社が、今回の発言者に対して迅速に採った決断及び行動は適切であったと思います。
English follows．
July 3, 2022
Yoshinoya’s Full-Time Director and General Manager of the Planning Division’s disparaging remarks about Japanese women symbolize
Why is this expression necessary? The strategy of narcotics use for virgin girls?
In a marketing course for working people at Waseda University lectured in April 2022, it was reported that Masaaki Ito, full-time director and general manager of the Planning Division, spoke of Yoshinoya’s measures to increase sales of its beef bowls to women in their teens and 20s, who are expected to be mainly students who need to reduce their food expenses or working people without high incomes, in urban areas, in terms that were a metaphor for the low economic and social status of women. The report said that the company’s policy to increase sales of Yoshinoya’s beef bowls to women in their teens and 20s, who are expected to be working adults who do not have much income, is a metaphor for the low economic and social status of women. Yoshinoya Holdings Co., Ltd. immediately passed a resolution to dismiss the director and made it public.
Symbolic of Gender Issues in Japanese Society
Depending on how one interprets it, one can see how these male directors view women in an economically and socially low light, making them a generalized “target group. Shabu-zuke is a cloaked term referring to drug abuse, and was clearly inappropriate for describing “the state of liking and repeatedly wanting to eat beef bowls. At the same time, she also referred to her place of origin as a woman who came from a rural area and did not know what was right or wrong. By saying “These women eat Gyudon, beef bowl meals while waiting for a man (when she finds someone to date eventually) to buy her an expensive meal,” is the woman clearly stating that even if she continues to live in the city, it will be difficult for her to become financially independent? This statement is both offensive and indignant. This is an indication of the contempt for women that permeates Japanese society. The position of women in management positions, the percentage of board members, the percentage of Diet members, the wage gap between men and women and the percentage of non-regular employment, and other positions throughout the developed world are in eye-popping positions, and we need to speak out on such occasions.
Marketing to Generation Z is about “having a social stance”
This statement by a purported marketing professional may not be acceptable to Generation Z (born in the 1990s-2010), which he has identified as the target demographic for Gyudon. This is the exact opposite from the importance of “sympathy for the company’s philosophy” and “the company having a social stance,” which are considered important in the strategy of attracting the youth demographic. Young women who move from rural areas to live in the city would not choose to eat at such an enterprise. It does not seem that the youth of Generation Z will buy the services and products of a company whose marketing strategy is so insulting to the youth as this one held by upper management. We believe that the decision and action taken by the company to quickly address the speaker was more than appropriate. (This is the end of article).
