Hikakin's ONICHA flop
- Influencer Hikakin launched a bottled tea called 'ONICHA' that quickly drew backlash for its bland taste and leftover stock. - One viral post showed large unsold inventory and called the flavor 'like diluted kettle barley tea.' - The product's weak reception sparked memes and heated social debate about influencer food-and-drink launches. (x.com)
HIKAKIN’s new bottled barley tea, ONICHA, hit 7-Eleven shelves in Japan on April 21 and was met the same day with mockery over its taste and reports of unsold stock. (sej.co.jp) (j-cast.com) (x.com) Seven-Eleven Japan said ONICHA would roll out nationwide from April 21 as a 600-milliliter plastic bottle of barley tea priced at 138 yen before tax, or 149.04 yen with tax. The retailer said the drink was sold by BEE Co., a new company HIKAKIN set up, and packaged in three label designs with a hidden “oni fortune” under the wrapper. (sej.co.jp) (oricon.co.jp) HIKAKIN announced the product on April 5 after a teaser campaign and said he wanted to make barley tea feel like something children would “want to pick” instead of a drink parents tell them to have. Oricon reported that he framed ONICHA as the follow-up to his hit instant noodle brand Misokin and said, “Japan’s barley tea, I’m going to change it.” (oricon.co.jp) (j-cast.com) The first backlash came before the drink even launched. Critics focused on HIKAKIN’s pitch that barley tea had been “plain” and not a “main character,” and some posts argued he was insulting a drink that is already a household staple in Japan. (oricon.co.jp) (coki.jp) After release, the criticism shifted from the ad campaign to the product itself. J-CAST reported that social media posts described ONICHA as “ordinary barley tea,” while a viral X post showed stacks of bottles still on shelves and compared the flavor to watered-down kettle barley tea. (j-cast.com) (x.com) That reaction stood out because Misokin, the HIKAKIN-branded ramen launched in 2023, became known for shortages and resale. Oricon said ONICHA was introduced explicitly as the next product after Misokin, so shoppers and commentators measured the tea against a launch that had trained fans to expect a sellout. (oricon.co.jp) Seven-Eleven’s own product description leaned on simplicity, saying ONICHA used only six-row and two-row barley as extraction ingredients and aimed for a clean, roasted taste with no extras. That made the debate unusually narrow for an influencer launch: much of the online argument was not about safety or price, but about whether a premium-style story had produced a drink people found indistinguishable from standard barley tea. (sej.co.jp) Not every reaction was negative. J-CAST said some buyers posted that they were able to purchase the drink without trouble and found it “normal” or simply “barley tea,” while resale listings also appeared on flea-market apps on launch day, showing that HIKAKIN’s name still drove immediate attention. (j-cast.com) For now, ONICHA has turned into a live test of how far creator branding can carry an everyday drink. HIKAKIN sold it as a new way to pick barley tea; by the end of launch day, the internet was arguing over whether it was just barley tea in a louder bottle. (oricon.co.jp) (j-cast.com) (x.com)
