Panasonic and CHAI Co-release Music Video, "GREAT JOB," to Help People Get Their Chores Done

Tokyo, Japan - People lead hectic lives what with work, household chores, and child rearing. To help give people more time to relax, Panasonic Corporation has been promoting "chore sharing," where home appliances take on some of the household chores. But surveys have revealed people procrastinate doing chores mainly because "they don't feel like it" or "they're just not in the mood." So motivation is the top reason. As such, Panasonic has co-created a song to get people in the mood for chores. Working with the popular band, "CHAI," Panasonic has just released on YouTube and the Panasonic website the short version of the music video of "GREAT JOB" - To Get You in the Mood for Chores Panasonic ver.

Transforming something negative positive! A brief description of the song that gets people in the mood for chores

This song was created by a girl band comprised of 4 members, "CHAI," and it also reflects advice of the ambient music artist, Mr. Masafumi Komatsu. It starts with the intro, which gets people's juices for chores flowing, and the verse fills people with positive energy, and the members' laughter makes people feel happy. Moreover, the ending expresses the feeling of accomplishment people will feel once they've finished their chores. So this music really attempts to transform chores into a fun activity.

A 100-second music video that looks back at the history of Panasonic appliances and its relationship to chores

Since introducing the "3 sacred treasures" - monochrome TVs, washing machines, and refrigerators - to the celebration of its centennial, Panasonic has continued to introduce products that help people with their household chores. And now, the music video that Panasonic has just released will look back on the unique history of chores in 100 seconds. Taking place in living rooms from 3 eras, the video will introduce what chores were like back then, and "Chore Helpers" or home appliances that have lent a hand over time will appear together with "CHAI."

Verifying the effect of this song

To verify whether this new song indeed transforms chores into something positive, Panasonic conducted 2 experiments with a sample size of 10 married males and females between the ages 20 and 40 using the SD method (*1). The first experiment involved washing curry covered dishes for 10 minutes, and the second experiment involved wiping clean squares drawn on the whiteboard. After each chore, we asked them to evaluate the chores under 8 expressions on a 7-point scale. As a result, on average it was found that positive answers were given "with music" rather than "without music." After testing (*2), as you can see from the graph below, 3 expressions for washing dishes - "fun," "gets me in the mood," "feel like doing the dishes" - and 3 expressions for wiping the whiteboard - "fun," "exhilarating," and "gets me in the mood" - showed significant results.

Ambient music artist, Mr. Masafumi Komatsu had the following to say about the experiment results, "First of all, how people evaluate music differs from person to person. We see similar trends with natural sounds, but with music, it's rare to see significant differences when we apply the SD method and average the scores. Nevertheless, this experiment showed significant results for 3 expressions for both washing dishes and wiping the whiteboard. This is fantastic! You can say with confidence that this new song really gets people in the mood to do chores and makes them fun."

*1 SD method (Semantic Differential method) is a type of psychological measurement. It measures people's reactions or impressions by using expressions, adjectives (words) paired with their antonyms, and these are rated on a scale. Then the semantic structure of stimulus words and concept are identified based on the results on this scale. This method is often used in acousticopsychology.

*2 A Wilcoxon signed rank test was conducted, and the top and bottom 5% were validated. Changes in impressions with and without music were verified.

CHAI Profile
"NEO - New Exciting Girl Band," CHAI, is a super rhythmical 4-girl band comprised of the miraculous twins, Mana and Kana, and Yuki and Yuna.
The first album released in 2017, "PINK" climbed up various charts, and the band/song has been highly praised by many prominent figures.
The band is active overseas and debuted in the US through a popular indies label, BURGER Records in February this year, and in the UK through the renowned indies label, Heavenly Recordings. They have gone on 3 US tours and in October they went on the first UK tour covering 13 cities.
The third EP, "Wagamamania" was ranked No.1 on Apple Music/ITunes alternative music rankings. They are surely the most electrifying band you'll encounter in the 21st century.

Mr. Masafumi Komatsu's Profile
Ambient music artist, composer, pianist, music educator, and doctor of engineering.
Born 1971 in Kyoto. He focuses not only on music, but on "sounds," and incorporates his insights into education, academics, and design. His field of expertise is acousticopsychology and soundscapes. He produces BGMs and ambient music and also plays the piano. He has also provided music and served as a musical director on many films. Furthermore, he has designed the sound environment for public spaces such as the Kyoto Tower, Kyoto International Manga Museum, Kyoto Tango Railway, as well as the Mimihara General Hospital. He also conducts sound education workshops that help hone people's hearing and bodily sensations nationwide. As of 2018, he is a professor at the Kyoto Seika University, Faculty of Humanities.

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