A recent incident involved Domino’s Pizza Japan Inc., which issued a public apology on this month after a video circulated on social media depicted a part-time employee engaging in unsanitary behaviour while handling pizza dough. Such incidents have been dubbed as “part-timer terrorism” by Japanese businesses.

To address this growing concern, one firm has introduced “reputation expense insurance”, which covers the costs associated with managing a crisis, consulting with legal professionals, and removing damaging online posts. The insurance also extends support for holding apology press conferences and establishing third-party committees. The number of subscribers to this insurance has seen a 20% increase from the previous year as of December 2023, The Mainichi Shimbun reports.

A similar product range by another firm offers compensation for legal fees arising from problem resolution and provide subscribers with free consultation services on how to address complaints. The subscriber base for this has reached around 20,000 as of December 2023.