Japanese Supermarket Chains Launch Earthquake Relief Campaigns

Japanese supermarket chains Daiei Inc. and Aeon Co. are offering their support to help rebuild areas affected by the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake. Daiei launched a "Ganbaro Nippon!" ("Try Hard, Japan!") campaign in April 2011 to assist both disaster areas and people working for reconstruction. Daiei is also conducting a campaign called "Daiei Disaster Relief Week" during the week starting on the 11th of every month.

During its campaign, Daiei will donate one percent of sales proceeds from all products (approximately 1,000 items) in its original brand, "Oishiku Tabetai!" (Want to enjoy meal!). On April 16 and 17, the company also held a product fair featuring local specialties gathered from the three Tohoku prefectures that were particularly devastated by the disaster, Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima, as well as products using raw ingredients from these prefectures. Daiei pledged to donate five percent of the sales proceeds from these fairs to disaster areas and victims.

Aeon, meanwhile, held a "Ganbaro Nippon! Happy Yellow Receipt Campaign" from April 8 to 12. In the Happy Yellow Receipt Campaign, Aeon stores issue yellow sales receipts to their customers, who normally can then drop them in any of a number of nearby boxes labeled with the names and activities of different local volunteer groups. During this campaign period, however, only a box for disaster relief was provided. After adding up the total sales value of the receipts in the boxes, Aeon put one percent of that amount toward reconstruction assistance, donating it to the headquarters for disaster countermeasures in damaged prefectures.

Posted: 2011/07/23 06:00:15 AM