Kikkoman is one of the most famous brands of soy sauce, especially since it comes in such unique container that is open on two sides and can never be closed. The company has been around since 1917, so they’ve had a lot of years to think of ways to advertise for the salty sauce around the world. One of their cutest ads comes from 1933 and features a crew of dancing cats in black skirts that make us squeel “KAWAII!”
This darling newspaper clipping is from a 1933 advertisement in Taiwan that is all about Kikkoman soy sauce.
▼ Want some Kikkoman soy sauce? Excellent, here are some dancing cats!
The Kikkoman name has nothing to do with cats either. In fact kikko means “tortoise shell” and man means “10,000,” so it’s hard to figure out how to connect 10,000 tortoise shells to a troupe of dancing felines. Perhaps people back in the ’30s already knew the magnetic attraction that cats exude and that dancing cats wearing skirts would be infinitely more powerful still.
Japanese online users commented on the picture saying that it was extremely cute and would probably go over pretty well if they used it in ads again today. One user even suggested that the company change their name to “Kikkonyan”, a play on words with the Japanese onomatopoeia for “meow.” Needless to say, it has to do with cats, so we definitely approve.
Source: Hamusoku
Top Image: Flickr/Kiersten Chou