"When Ben & Jerry's co-founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, launched their ice cream in Japan in 2012, they were met with some rather unexpected challenges. Most of these boiled down to a slew of cultural differences the company had surprisingly never even considered, including the brand's ability to adapt its vision and popularity to the tastes and preferences of the Japanese people."
"For U.S. consumers, one of Ben & Jerry's most charming qualities as a brand is their quirky, punny, and at times nonsensical flavor names. But something was definitely lost in translation - literally - for the Japanese, who hard-passed on a much-beloved American flavor called Chunky Monkey. When Ben & Jerry's looked into the issue, they found the translation itself wasn't conveying quite the right message, as it read: "Chunks of Monkey," in Japanese."
Ben & Jerry's first attempted to enter Japan in 1997 through a tie-up with 7-Eleven but that effort failed and created a contentious PR episode. A later entry in 2012 again encountered unexpected challenges rooted in cultural differences and the brand's inability to align products with Japanese tastes and preferences. Flavor names and translations caused problems, notably "Chunky Monkey" being rendered as "Chunks of Monkey" and deterring consumers. Japanese consumers found the ice cream too sweet, portions too large, and flavor profiles unsuitable. The brand later sought to reintroduce itself with messaging such as a "Message from Vermont" video.
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