I had a chance to talk with some women today about shopping, and one of the subjects I raised was that McDonalds is selling hamburgers for JPY59. This is something that has been in the news, and I was curious about their reactions.

"You have to wonder who they're squeezing down the line."

"At that price, I wonder what they're putting in them."

"If they can do it for JPY59, they must have been making out like bandits before."

The company is working hard to make the product easier to buy -- to make it more attractive -- by slashing the price, but not all consumers are impressed and grateful. Some are downright skeptical. Some are distrustful. Some are even scared away by the tactic.

It used to be there was a basic trust between manufacturer and consumer in Japan. No more. I do not know when trust died, but it is clearly dead. Consumers are suspicious, all too often with good reason. Of course, there are still some trusted names, but consumers have been burned so often of late that they are very fire-shy. They do not know where the next trap lies. So they are wary of everything.

Company after company has put out press releases proclaiming a commitment to product quality and consumer safety, but confidence is not something you can win by proclamation. Rather, consumer confidence is a state of mind that has to be continually nurtured and won. It is not something companies can box. It is an intangible.

And it shows up not in consumer professions of faith but rather in everyday buying habits. It is strongest when the consumer is least aware of it. It is best when consumers take product safety for granted. But woe be to the company that takes consumer trust for granted.

Imao Masako

La Grande Roue