STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
In Japan, convenience stores are an essential part of everyday life, much more than in the United States. But the industry is under pressure, and so one chain is going gaga. That's a play on words, as we are about to hear from NPR's Anthony Kuhn.
ANTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: FamilyMart is Japan's second-largest convenience store chain after 7-Eleven. In a new ad, a worker enters a dark store. Everything is black and white except for the company's blue and green logo. The worker is wearing a leather uniform and platform shoes. Her name tag says, Lady Gaga.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KILLAH")
LADY GAGA: (Vocalizing).
KUHN: To the techno beat of her song, "Killah," Gaga bops her way down rows of snacks and drinks. She works the cash register, mops the floors and serves fried chicken, while Android-like Gaga replicas stock the shelves.
(SOUNDBITE OF AD)
LADY GAGA: (Speaking Japanese).
KUHN: "Why not work at FamilyMart?" She says in Japanese. The ad is not a sales pitch. It's a recruitment hook. Hiroaki Watanabe is a retail analyst and convenience store expert.
HIROAKI WATANABE: (Through interpreter) For Japanese people, convenience stores are like air and water. They are indispensable.
KUHN: Customers don't just buy food there. They also pay taxes, book tickets and send packages. But working in a konbini, as they're known in Japan, means long hours, low pay and, like most industries in Japan, Watanabe says they're facing a labor crunch.
WATANABE: (Through interpreter) It's not that the convenience store industry is in an immediate crisis right now. Rather, it is facing a gradual labor shortage.
KUHN: So konbinis are increasingly using automated checkout kiosks and...
WATANABE: (Through interpreter) Since there is a shortage of young Japanese workers, people from places like Nepal and Vietnam are helping out.
KUHN: Another innovation is their new dress code, which allows employees to layer their own clothes under FamilyMart T-shirts and dye their hair any color. Watanabe says the Gaga ad signals to its increasingly diverse young workforce that they can rock their own styles on the job. In an interview accompanying her ad, Lady Gaga explains what she had in mind.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LADY GAGA: I was trying to find, like, the seriousness of going to work with the humor and the fun of FamilyMart.
KUHN: Gaga also gives a shoutout to her Japanese fans and to Japanese culture.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LADY GAGA: I would say I love sushi, but also I really love traditional soba, but cold.
KUHN: Watanabe says the Gaga ad is not just about sales or jobs. It's about making the brand stand out in an industry known more for fierce competition than funky style.
Anthony Kuhn, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF LADY GAGA SONG, "SHADOW OF A MAN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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