While the rest of the world is ending 2024, Japan is already living in 2124. If we don’t have enough examples, this November, the very famous Japanese convenience store chain Lawson launched drinkable mayonnaise ‘Nomu mayonnaise’. Consume in the same workplace.

They called it “the cold drink mayonnaise fans have been waiting for” from Lawson. Mayonnaise fans, however, seem to disagree.

What exactly is ‘nomu mao’? Because, as the company insists, no, it is not truly drinkable mayonnaise. It’s more of a “mayonnaise style drink”. Actually, You can read in the materials A product made with “milk, dairy products and mayonnaise seasoning.”

But, but, but… Does it really taste like mayonnaise? And it’s a lot. In fact, according to the ‘reviews’ and ‘first impressions’ we can find on social networks, his main problem is that he knows: too much for mayonnaise.

“If you don’t like mayonnaise, this could kill you.” With these words, David R. Munson began his analysis of the drink. “If you love mayonnaise,” he continued, “this could ruin it forever.” And this is the general opinion: “It’s as scary as it looks“,” “I threw it away,” “this is something you don’t need in your life.”

Are you serious? According to The Independent, Lawson launched the product “on a trial basis”. And it’s not clear from the reactions he’s received whether he’ll be able to overcome this.

So why do you say “Japan lives in the future”? Because I’m not talking about the ‘Nomu swimsuit’, I’m talking about how a trend specific to the dynamics of the Internet world has settled into the heart of the world economy. Judging by the habit, this mayonnaise drink cannot be a serious, future-oriented bet: it is a mixture between meme, marketing and user experiences ‘making it happen’ (the weirder, the better).

This is something we often see in food chains: the emergence of eye-catching (albeit hardly marketable) products to create buzz around the facility. We have seen this in nougat and dozens of industries. In many cases, products like the first foldable phones fit this like a glove.

This seems to have spread to supermarkets, one of the most classic (and boring) sectors of the economy. Does this mean we’ll start to see energy companies offering ‘fixed candle prices’ or smartphone manufacturers launching the latest ‘yogurt and string phones’? It’s too early to tell, but it looks good coming from Japan.

Image | Lawson/Andrew Leu

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