Crunching chips expose a lying worker in Sushinoko's ACC-winning radio comedy

Sushinoko is Tamanoi Vinegar's powdered sushi vinegar, on sale since 1963 as the world's first product of its kind: sprinkle it on rice and stir to make sushi rice without measuring liquid vinegar. Decades in, its obvious use had become a niche one, but fans on social media had found another — posting that sprinkling sushinoko on potato chips is delicious — and the brand chose to build its radio campaign around that unadvertised habit.

The 90-second spot, OTOMORE, is a phone-call farce in Osaka dialect. A subordinate late for a meeting calls his boss; the crunching is audible through the phone, and while he insists he is stuck on a station platform, the boss is not fooled — 'You're eating chips at home, aren't you!' The joke plays on the double meaning of 'home', and the published script contains no music: only ringtone, doorbell, dialogue and the 'pari pari pari' crunching carry the story. The voice-over closes with a mock safety warning: two tablespoons in a chip bag and you may not be able to stop.

At the 2024 ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS, OTOMORE won the Grand Prix in the radio CM category, plus craft prizes for its copy and for the acting, and copywriter Kensuke Harada was named TCC top newcomer the same year. For a 61-year-old pantry staple, the campaign marked a shift in voice: instead of teaching consumers how to make sushi rice, the brand celebrated the potato-chip trick that users had invented for themselves.