The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2025
caname's gym 'deadline' discount never expired — the urgency was theatre
A Tokyo personal gym kept offering its 'limited-time' enrollment discount long after the deadline passed. The CAA certified refunds.
caname, Inc. · 2025-02-26
What happened
From 1 September 2020 to 31 July 2024, caname's website for its personal gym かたぎり塾 (Katagiri-juku) advertised a 'limited-time' (期間限定) enrollment-fee discount: the ¥50,000 fee would only be cut if you took a free trial by the displayed deadline and enrolled on the day of the trial.
The deadline was a fiction. Even after it passed, the discounted fee was still on offer to anyone who enrolled the day of their free trial, so the urgency pushed people to decide on a countdown that did not exist.
On 3 February 2025 the Consumer Affairs Agency notified caname that the matter was suitable for the commitment procedure under Article 30; the company applied for certification of a plan, which the CAA certified on 26 February 2025 under Article 31(3) — the first certification under the amended Act that took effect on 1 October 2024.
The act violated Article 5(2) of the Premiums and Representations Act (presenting transaction terms as more favourable than they were). The certified plan required caname to stop, inform consumers, prevent recurrence, and refund part of the enrollment fees paid during the affected period.
Why it happened
- A fake deadline forced a same-day sign-up decision on a countdown that never ended
- The discount's continued availability after the deadline exposed the 'now or never' as a sales frame
- Four years of manufactured urgency meant every conversion was sold on a false scarcity
The lesson
A limited-time offer is only honest if the time actually ends. When the discount is still there after the deadline, the urgency was a lie — and the customer who rushed joined on a false promise.
Aftermath
The plan was the first certification under Japan's 2024 amendments, refunding part of the fees paid by enrollees who joined during the affected period. It established the amended Act's commitment lane in practice, letting a company correct course without a corrective order.
Sources
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