Lady Gaga Now Works at FamilyMart, Name Tag and All

What's going on

Lady Gaga is now starring in a TV commercial for FamilyMart ("FamiMa" for short), one of the three convenience-store chains that sit on nearly every street corner in Japan. The ad, which began airing on September 25, puts her in a sleek, futuristic take on the store uniform, complete with a name tag spelling "Lady Gaga" in katakana, the script used for foreign names. She also tries Famichiki, the chain's fried chicken, and pronounces it "oishii" (delicious).

The twist is that the ad isn't selling a product. Its title, "Work at FamiMa?", makes it a help-wanted ad. Gaga has a long history with Japan, including fundraising after the 2011 earthquake, and Japanese fans call her "Gaga-sama," using an honorific reserved for people held in very high regard.

Japan also has a long tradition of Hollywood names turning up in local TV ads, often in roles they would never take back home: Arnold Schwarzenegger sold energy drinks and instant noodles, and Tommy Lee Jones has spent years playing an alien in canned-coffee ads. Older viewers found the Gaga ad nostalgic. Plenty of others assumed it was AI until they realized it wasn't.

Comments

The most “there’s no way that’s real” ad since Don Quijote (Don Quijote, or “Donki,” is a sprawling discount chain whose recent ads featured Bruno Mars.)

ドン・キホーテ以来のそんなはずがないCM

Nah, Gaga’s love for Japan goes way back, and compared to Donki, FamilyMart has this kind of “official” vibe, so honestly it wasn’t that surprising

いやガガの親日は歴史が長いし、ドンキと比べたらファミマってなんていうか「公式感」があるから、意外と意外じゃなかったな

“The Shogun would never be in a place like this…” 😂 (A stock line from the classic samurai drama Abarenbo Shogun, where villains insist the disguised shogun standing right in front of them can’t possibly be the real one.)

「上様が、こんな所にいるわけが無い……」😂

FYI this FamilyMart clerk put out a single two years ago that hit 1 billion Spotify streams faster than anything in history, and it’s past 4 billion and still climbing. A seriously yabai clerk.

このファミマ店員さんは、一昨年出したシングルがSpotify史上最速で10億再生を突破して、今現在40億超えで伸び続けてるゲキヤバ店員です。

For real? Then she’s gonna need at least ¥1,500 an hour (about $10, a bit above the usual convenience-store wage.)

まじかよ、じゃあ時給1500円は必要だな

Shohei Ohtani AND now Lady Gaga in their ads?? How much money does FamilyMart even have!?

大谷翔平に加えて、レディーガガもCMに出るファミマはどんだけ財力あるねん！？

Itochu’s behind them. (Itochu is the giant trading conglomerate that owns FamilyMart.)

後ろに伊藤忠いるから。

Bruno Mars at Donki and Gaga at FamilyMart. This is getting out of hand

ブルーノマーズがドンキで、ガガがファミマなんて、やばすぎ

The name tag saying “Lady Gaga” in katakana is kinda cute

名札に「レディー・ガガ」って書いてあるのがちょっと可愛い

With the yen this weak? Wow (The yen has been historically weak, which makes booking foreign stars even pricier.)

この円安の時代にすげえな

Strong yen: “I LOVE NIPPON” / Weak yen: “SO HOW MUCH CAN YOU PAY”

円高:ニポンダイスキ円安:イクラハラエルネン

Both lines are written in katakana, the script for foreign words, to mimic a foreign star speaking stilted Japanese. The second line is in Kansai dialect, the voice of a hard-nosed Osaka merchant.

When the 2011 earthquake hit, she made bracelets, sold them to fans and donated all the proceeds, and on top of that she donated her own money too. Such a good person

この人東日本大震災の時ブレスレット作ってファンに売って売上全部寄付してくれただけじゃなくて自分自身も寄付してくれたんだよな。めちゃくちゃいい人

If Gaga worked part-time at FamilyMart I’d go buy Famichiki every single day!

ガガがファミマでバイトしてたら毎日ファミチキ買いに行くよ!

So she has to work with no days off?

無休で働けと？

I’m genuinely moved that Gaga-sama is wearing FamilyMart socks

ガガ様がファミマのソックス履いてることに感動

Thought it was an ad for some product, turns out it’s a help-wanted ad lol

商品の宣伝かと思ったらバイト募集だったｗ

Love how Gaga-sama goes all in even on stuff like this

ガガ様こういうのも全力だから好き

I need her to serve customers with a poker face lol

是非ポーカーフェイスで接客してほしいね！ｗ

She was 100% in Cyberpunk 2077

絶対サイバーパンク2077に出てたでしょ

Hmm, so this is the new uniform… not bad?

ふーん、コレが新しい制服か…いいんじゃない？

People say there used to be tons of ads like this, but these days it’s rare. Respect to FamilyMart

昔はこう言うのいっぱいあったって言うけど今じゃ希少だなぁ。ファミマ凄いわ

That’s the power of Big Bro Itochu watching their back! Don’t you dare underestimate him!

ケツ持ちの伊藤忠兄貴の力ぁ！舐めたらアカンぜよ！

She’s answering the interview completely seriously, but I can’t stop laughing at the katakana “Lady Gaga” on her name tag.

本人はいたって真剣にインタビューしてくれてるのに、胸元の名札の片仮名の「レディー・ガガ」で笑いを抑えきれない。

Feels kinda nostalgic, like back when companies were using American celebs in their ads left and right. Liking FamilyMart a little more now

昔みたいに色んな会社がめちゃくちゃアメリカのセレブ使ってCMやってたからなんか懐かしい感じファミマちょっと好きになった

It even has a barcode for clocking in lol

ちゃんと出勤するためのバーコードついてるw

Can’t believe FamilyMart’s PR team got this approved lol (budget-wise, I mean). Since they went this far, they should make a figure of this Gaga and sell it

ファミマの広報よくこれ通せたなｗ（金銭的な意味で）せっかくやったんだからこのガガフィギュア作って売るべき

Takes me back to the ’80s bubble years, when Schwa-chan and Jodie Foster were all over the commercials. (“Schwa-chan” is the affectionate Japanese nickname for Arnold Schwarzenegger. The bubble was Japan’s late-’80s boom, when money seemed endless.)

80年代バブルの、CMにシュワちゃんとかジョディ・フォスターとか出まくってた頃を思い出すなあ。

The legendary clerk who drops in from head office now and then and can do literally everything lol

時々本部からやってくるなんでもできる凄腕の店員w

I figured it was one of those AI “what if Gaga worked at FamilyMart” things, and then it turned out to be an actual real ad. Stunned

AI合成で「ガガがファミマでバイトとしたら」的なのかと思ったら、ほんまもんのCMで驚愕

Biggest “wait, what?” since the BOSS ads (Tommy Lee Jones has played an alien studying Earthlings in ads for Suntory’s BOSS canned coffee since 2006.)

boss cm以来のまさかの衝撃

A global diva who clearly does not pick and choose her gigs lmao

世界の歌姫なのに仕事選ばなすぎで草

Gaga-sama was on Tetsuko’s Room way back too, so she must genuinely love Japan (Tetsuko’s Room is a talk show hosted by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi since 1976.)

ガガ様むかし徹子の部屋にも出演したことあるから、ガチで日本大好きなんだろうなぁ

Her favorite food being cold soba makes it feel legit. Westerners are generally not big fans of “cold noodles.”

好きな食べ物が「冷たい」蕎麦ってトコがガチ感ある。欧米人は「冷たいヌードル」に対しては基本否定的だからな。

FamilyMart announced it’s renewing its uniforms and allowing some flexibility in hair color and how staff wear them. They’re putting more effort into hiring than any other convenience store, so this ad is probably part of that. Has any convenience store ever spent this kind of money on a recruitment ad instead of a product ad?

ファミマは制服のリニューアルや髪色・着こなしにある程度の多様性を設けるという発表していて、どのコンビニよりもスタッフの確保に力を入れているから、このCMもその一環かな。商品のCMじゃなくてスタッフ募集でこんな金をかけたCMを打ったコンビニがあっただろうか？

So this is FamilyMart’s new uniform I’ve been hearing about. Looks cool! Hijabs and blond hair are both OK now, so Gaga-sama standards should pass too.

これが噂のファミマの新しい制服かぁ。カッコイイ！ヒシャブも金髪もOKだからガガ様基準も大丈夫だね。

With Gaga-sama behind the counter it instantly feels like a FamilyMart from the year 2326 lol

ガガ様が店員だと一気に2326年のファミマ感出るなw

Part-time shift leader with an absolutely ridiculous résumé

とんでもないキャリアのバイトリーダー

If a clerk like this were working I’d panic and use the self-checkout lol

こんな店員いたらビビってセルフレジ使いますｗ

FamilyMart’s coming back to America!? (FamilyMart briefly ran stores in Southern California under the name “Famima!!” in the 2000s.)

ファミマ全米に再出店！？

My take

Apparently Hollywood's biggest names rarely take on commercials like this back home. Japan seems to be the exception they make.

#Surprising #Culture

Source & translation note

Comments loosely translated for tone. Reactions collected from Togetter and X threads.

View original thread →