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| Protein Block, above, from Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer. |
By Ko Dong-hwan
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Distributors in Korea announced on Aug. 18 that through the period from Aug. 1 to 15 when the movie played in theaters, sales of sweet red bean jelly showed a sharp increase at major marts, variety stores and online malls.
The unprecedented popularity of the snack owes to the "protein block" from the movie. Depicted as the only edible provision for people living in a rear car, its brown color and jelly-type shape drew remarkable resemblance to the sweet red bean jelly.
It appears the protein bars' friendly feature acted as leverage to public craving for its look-alike in real life. And, with steady increase in the movie audience, more people were intrigued to have the taste.
The jelly usually sells comparatively well during hiking seasons of spring and autumn among senior customers. It is rare for the product to sell with high demand during the summer through diverse markets like Gmarket, Auction, 7eleven, GS25 and Lotte Mart, in which the sales upped from 50 percent to 200 percent.
An associate from 7eleven, indicating sheer increase in young customers purchasing the jelly, said "it's part of the trend that people spot certain products from the media through PPL (product placement) and try them out and share their thoughts."
