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Brief Description

The project was designed to counteract the negative image of cocoa in Japan and to promote instead a positive image by increasing the awareness of the positive nutritional and health aspects of cocoa. The negative image was that cocoa, linked to its sugar content, was fattening and unhealthy. The strategy for the promotion was to spread consumption to older age-groups, and to create new intellectual product values by turning the negative health and nutrition image of chocolate into a positive one.

Project Objectives

The overall objective of the project was to expand the market for cocoa and chocolate in Japan through a generic promotion campaign. The immediate goal of the project was to increase annual consumption of cocoa products in Japan by 20,000 tonnes in bean equivalent, over a four-year period.

Project Results

Major promotion activities carried out by the project were: production of The “Chocolate Story” pamphlet; production and distribution of a video film, entitled “Chocolate, the Food of the Gods”; participation in the Kanazawa and Iwate Confectionery Exhibitions in 1994 and 1998; production of four issues of a Newsletter targeted at the members of the Japan Nutritionists’ Society; organization of chocolate weeks; and organization of the International Symposia on Chocolate and Cocoa Nutrition.

The perception of the Japanese public vis-à-vis cocoa as a drink changed dramatically as a result of the project, especially among housewives. Regarding chocolate, the general mood has changed for the better as people now begin to feel assured that it is good to eat chocolate.

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