In a bold and eye-catching twist, Kewpie Corporation, somewhere along the line, introduced their iconic mayonnaise in an all-new blue packaging, reinventing the classic for a contemporary audience — the Asians.
But what is the purpose of this scheme and what is the inspiration behind this ingenious design transformation?
That’s exactly what we’re exploring in this article. So keep reading to find out.
What Is The Blue Kewpie Mayo?
If you’re deeply interested in kewpie mayo, chances are that you might have stumbled upon the product blue online, but somehow can’t find it on the shelves at your local stores in the states.
That’s because the product is only marketed for the Asian Community based upon cues that are strictly specific to them.
The blue product of Kewpie doesn’t have just one general purpose that it serves or is meant for.
For different Asian markets, product blue has a different audience that it targets and uses that it serves, and below, we’ll explore each and every one of them.
Blue Kewpie Mayo (China)
In China, Kewpie Mayo is offered in three primary colors: blue, green and red. These are also offered in different sizes such as (30g x 5), 50, 100, 150, 200, 300 and 400g.
Product blue in China is marketed as “Kewpie Salad Dressing Sweet Taste”, meaning that it deviates from the eggy and savory flavor of the regular kewpie Mayo offered in red and the sweet sour flavor of the product green, by having a sweet taste.
The product gets its sweetness from the inclusion of white sugar, rice vinegar, steviol glycoside, and the zero calorie artificial sweetener “sucralose”.
The rest of the ingredients are what you’ll find in a typical Kewpie mayonnaise: Vegetable oil, water, egg yolk, vinegar, edible salt, sodium glutamate (MSG), xanthan gum, disodium edetate, concentrated lemon juice and spices.
While the product has a blue packaging, inside is milky white in color. It’s sweet taste makes it perfect for use in fruit salads, ramen and all kinds of sandwiches.
Blue Kewpie Mayo (Thailand)
In Thailand, Kewpie offers a variety of lines including product blue which aims to reduce the overall fat and sugar content of the “Salad Cream line” distinguished by a pink packaging, by about 50%.
It does this through a heavy reduction in the overall vegetable oil and sugar content.
In the original salad cream recipe for instance, vegetable oil makes up about 53% of the mixture whereas sugar content makes up 24% of the mixture.
In the (lighter) blue version however, the vegetable content is only 25%, while the sugar content is 12%.
This reduced content provides a healthier version of the original salad cream with nearly the same taste and texture.
The rest of the ingredients include: wheat, mustard, water and vinegar.
Blue Kewpie Mayonnaise (Malaysia)
In Malaysia, the blue product is actually marketed as a different product — “a Tuna Mayo Spread”.
The product is made in the normal style of mayo, but then enriched and flavored using tuna.
There are also other lines of Mayo offered which include the “Japanese Style Mayo” in a red packaging having the exact recipe as the original Japanese kewpie, the “Mild Type Mayo” which comes in a yellow packaging and has the same recipe as the Japanese style Mayo except the ratios are reduced, the “half salad dressing” which contains half less fat than the Japanese style mayo, the “Chilli Mayo” which comes in an orange packaging and contains chilli, the “sandwich spread” which typically comes in a green packaging and has pickled vegetables in it and is also offered in different sub-lines such as the “cheesy cheese sandwich spread” in a yellow packaging having cheese powder in it, “spicy black pepper sandwich spread” in a dark brown packaging having black pepper powder in it, and the “chunky garlic sandwich spread” in a light brown packaging having garlic granules in it.
The tuna kewpie Mayo is perfect for use in omelettes, baking with sweet potato, and vegetable burrito.
Blue Kewpie Mayo (Vietnam)
In Vietnam, blue kewpie Mayo is marketed as “sweet mayonnaise sauce” which is a sweet version of the original kewpie Mayo. A sub-version of this same sauce exists which is a reduced fat version of it.
The sweet mayonnaise sauce gets its sweetness from the addition of sweeteners such as sugar and synthetic sweeteners like sucralose 955.
Blue Kewpie Mayo (Philippines)
In the Philippines, blue kewpie Mayo is marketed as a sweeter and creamier version of the original Japanese Style Kewpie mayo which is offered in red packaging and comes in two variants: the original Japanese Style Mayo and the ½ product containing half the fat and sugar content of the original Mayo.
Blue Is Sweet And Healthy
As you can observe from the information above, the introduction of Blue Kewpie Mayonnaise to certain markets is justified for either of two main reasons: Taste or Health or even both.
It appears that the Blue Kewpie line aims to cater to different market preferences by offering reduced fat and sugar content in some markets like Thailand (where a lower fat and sugar content appeal to individuals aiming to lose weight or maintain a healthy lifestyle), reduced fat content in others like Vietnam (where a lower fat content is the crucial driver now not (sugar), and thus would appeal to individuals who want to reduce their fat intake, but still enjoy the full-flavored experience of traditional mayonnaise, and a sweet version of the original mayonnaise in certain areas like Philippines and China (where consumers generally prefer sweeter taste profiles).
