Suspense, Responsible Seafood, and a Brilliant New Campaign

Question: what do Tuesdays, suspenseful TV dramas, and responsible seafood have in common? The answer is: Japan.

Ok, we’ll give you a bit more information. These three very disparate themes are brought together by a brilliant new campaign from WWF Japan, tapping into the growing demand for ASC and MSC certified seafood in the country.

You probably already knew that Japan is a nation of seafood lovers. What you might not know is that Japanese consumers are being increasingly selective about what seafood they buy, and want to know it’s coming from responsible sources.

ASC is at the forefront of the drive towards more responsible seafood in Japan, with major companies like Aeon and the Japanese Consumers’ Co-operative Union (JCCU) committing to the programme and giving consumers a trustworthy and reliable choice of farmed seafood.

But what does that have to do with Tuesdays, or TV dramas for that matter? To explain we’ll need to give you a very brief Japanese lesson. WWF’s campaign is called ‘Kasasu’. This is a play on a familiar phrase in Japan. ‘Ka’ means Tuesday, and ‘Sasu’ is a short form of the word for suspense. Traditionally in Japan suspenseful TV dramas have been shown on Tuesday nights, which have become known as ‘Kasasu’.

WWF have taken the phrase for Tuesday Suspense, and changed it to Tuesday Sustainable Seafood. In this campaign, Kasasu means: let’s eat sustainable seafood on Tuesday. They have even created a promotional video parodying the sort of dramas usually shown on Tuesday nights, which you can watch below.

 

https://youtu.be/vJDjylcAjXM

 

Even if you don’t speak Japanese we’re sure you’ll agree – that’s a show that would be worth watching!

To help inspire consumers WWF has also teamed up with restaurants which have created special dishes for Tuesdays. Meanwhile, a competition underway right now is asking people to follow WWF Japan on Twitter. Five lucky winners will receive a free ASC/MSC certified Kijima meal kit, and five others will win a copy of the WWF fish handbook, signed by the actors in the above video.

With big retailers setting a trend towards responsible seafood in Japan, other sectors are now following, including e-commerce and the food service sector, with the number of ASC certified restaurants and canteens continuing to grow despite the challenges of the pandemic.

There’s nothing suspenseful or dramatic about buying ASC certified seafood, no matter what country you’re in or what day of the week it is. Our stringent standards are the most robust in the industry, and farms must demonstrate they are meeting all of these indicators, covering environmental, social, and legal responsibility. Our commitment to transparency means every farm must report various performance data, with every single audit report for every certified farm available to view on the ASC website.

Read more about the WWF Japan campaign on their website.