So, Ka Laundry Capsule detergents sorta launched itself into the local market rather aggressively.

Too aggressively if you ask me. Very un-Japanese behaviour.

The problem with Japanese companies is that they’re usually too conservative. They’re slow to respond, and prefer to take their time doing their own thing. Also, when it comes to branding, they’re extremely conservative with their ‘Japanese’ branding.

The number 1 Japanese detergent? Right. Just like Miniso being the biggest fast-fashion brand in Japan right?

We shall see.

(Not) Finding Ka Laundry Capsule Detergent Pods in Japan

It’s extremely easy to check if this is true… just check out some of the biggest ecommerce webstores in Japan like Amazon JP and Rakuten.

Checking in on their detergent sections yielded something unsurprising – Ka Laundry Detergent does not exist.

Nothing. Nadda. Zilch.

‘Japan’s No.1 Ultra-Concentrated Formula’ My rosy spanked backside. It doesn’t even exist in Japan.

But, also unsurprisingly, one of the top selling detergent product look kinda familiar….

As we can clearly see, Ka Laundry Capsule pods are copies of *ahem*, I’m sorry, ‘inspired by’ P&G’s ‘Ariel’ laundry detergent pods. Look at the shape and colour of the detergent pods. Looks familiar, yes? Heck, it’s also obvious that the whirlpool-like droplets around the Ka logo was designed after Ariel’s logo.

The biggest surprise to me, is that apparently America’s Proctor & Gamble has a laundry product that seems to be outselling Japan’s own laundry products from Kao and Lion. That’s quite the feat, as the Japanese population tend to be staunchly pro-local with their purchasing decisions. I’m also surprised that P&G hasn’t taken advantage of this position to market its ‘Ariel’ detergents outside of Japan. The fact that so many Singaporeans have fallen for the Japan-ish marketing of Ka Laundry Detergent pods is proof that Japanese products are held in high regard by Singaporeans.

I have to say though, Whealthfields, the company from Guangzhou, China, manufacturing products like the Ka Laundry Detergent and Walch antiseptics products (which are NOT German), has done a fantastic job making people think Ka is a Japanese product. I’d say they’re even more thorough and professionally done than the joke that is Miniso, another Chinese company pretending to be Japanese that doesn’t exist in Japan.

It’s a combination of aesthetics and words used that’s designed to mislead people into thinking Ka is a Japanese product.

You have, of course, the Japanese words and very Japanese design, with the bold, exciting colours and kanji characters. Then you have the phrase ‘Japan #1 ultra-concentration formulation’ that is meaningless on its own, but is enough to mislead people into thinking that this is a ‘#1’ product in Japan in terms of sale or popularity.

Even the company’s name is designed to be misleading, and they know this, so much so that they even used their own company name (Whealth Lohmann) and an active ingredient in another one of their products (Centralin), combined them, and then passed it off as some European/Americany Lab that was used to verify their claims. LOL.

So what if it’s from ‘Whealth Lohmann Centralin Lab Data on File’? It’s obvious the file was fabricated by Whealthfields themselves eh?

Oh, and yes, they even have a registered office in Osaka, Japan. But I guess I could also pay $50/mth and say that I have an address in Orchard Road.

I have to admit that it’s effective. Well done. My parents and all my relatives thinks that Ka is from Japan. Wouldn’t be surprised if most Singaporeans thought so too.

Heh. Remember what I said about how conservative Japanese companies are when it comes to marketing?

So Japanese companies selling Japanese products here are being out-marketed by a Chinese company selling something that’s pretending to be a Japanese.

Sad.

Hmm. Do Singaporeans even realize that Kao and Lion product are *actually* from Japan? I guess they’re bored by Top and ATTACK-KE