The Yakult story: Japanese health drink that conquered world with beneficial bacteria and beaming ladies
- Today numbering over 80,000, ‘Yakult ladies’ have played a vital role in the brand’s growth both in Japan and globally
- Company grew from founder’s wish to fight cholera and dysentery
While walking down a street in Rio de Janeiro, or taking a lift in Singapore, or crossing a plaza in Mexico City, there is a good chance you will come across a Yakult Lady.
Kitted out in a smart uniform and carrying a box full of the famous probiotic milk drink on one shoulder, the Yakult Lady has proved to be an inspired tool for putting a smiling face on the Japanese product.
Yakult only introduced its smartly attired Yakult ladies in 1963, more than three decades after the drink was first devised by Japanese scientist Minoru Shirota. There are about 35,000 Yakult ladies in Japan who deliver door-to-door or pop into offices and workplaces across the country. An additional 46,600 Yakult ladies perform similar tasks in many of the 38 countries and regions where the company’s products are available.
“I grew up seeing the Yakult Lady cycling through the neighbourhood and waving to us as we walked to school,” says Kanako Hosomura, a housewife from Yokohama who keeps a constant supply of the small, pink Yakult bottles in her fridge for her son. “They are a constant in our lives, like the police or the postman. And I think many people find it reassuring that they have not changed the way that they deliver their products or have been tempted to alter the thing that made them famous.”