"‘Pokemon Bread’ Crosses the Line with ‘Luring and Molesting Elementary Students’: The Unwelcome Reason Behind Its Overwhelming Popularity"

Pok?mon Bread's Massive Popularity Leads to Side Effects
Some Stores Engage in Bundling and Forced Sales... Reminiscent of the 'Honey Butter Chip Hostage Crisis' 8 Years Ago
Elementary Students Lured with Promises to Find Pok?mon Bread and Sexually Assaulted
Experts Say "Overheated Popularity Causes Inappropriate Consumption... Bundling and Forced Sales Undermine Consumer Choice"

The 'Pokemon Bread,' re-released after 16 years, is causing a sensation with a shortage phenomenon. Meanwhile, cases exploiting the popularity of Pokemon Bread, such as forced sales and crime baiting, are emerging.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] As Pok?mon bread is gaining popularity to the point of causing a 'scarcity frenzy,' concerns are rising due to the surge of side effects exploiting this, such as forced sales and criminal baiting.

Pok?mon bread is a product re-released by SPC Samlip after 16 years, and it has caused sell-out frenzies everywhere, with 1.5 million units sold in one week and 6.7 million units in one month. Each bread contains a sticker (Tibutibu seal) printed with one of 159 characters from the Japanese animation 'Pok?mon' series, and the number of people collecting or verifying these stickers is also increasing.

Proving its popularity, 'open run' lines have appeared. In some large supermarkets and convenience stores, people waiting to buy Pok?mon bread often line up for more than an hour. Some even visit convenience stores timed with the arrival of delivery trucks or follow the trucks to buy the bread as soon as it is stocked. As a result, some stores distribute numbered tickets to waiting customers or limit the number of purchases per person.

A man in his 20s, Mr. Jo, said, "I went around 5 to 6 convenience stores in my neighborhood to buy Pok?mon bread but couldn't get any. Even if I went at the time the delivery arrived, there were already many people in line, and I heard that purchases are often limited to one per person."

The problem is that side effects exploiting the popularity of Pok?mon bread are emerging rapidly. In some stores, owners are bundling Pok?mon bread with other products or selling it only to customers who present receipts for purchases over a certain amount. A similar situation occurred during the 'Honey Butter Chip frenzy' in 2014. When supply could not keep up with demand, some store owners used bundling tactics to sell unpopular items as sets, leading to jokes about a 'Honey Butter Chip hostage situation.'

Also, on some secondhand trading sites, Pok?mon bread is being sold at 3 to 4 times the retail price. Rare Tibutibu seals are sold with premiums of several tens of thousands of won. Some buyers purchase bread in bulk, remove only the Tibutibu seals, and sell the bread cheaply as secondhand items, raising concerns about hygiene, food safety, and expired shelf life.

There was even an incident where an elementary school student who came to buy Pok?mon bread was lured and sexually assaulted under the pretext of 'helping find the bread.' A man in his 60s, Mr. A, who runs a convenience store in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, lured Ms. B, who came to buy Pok?mon bread, into the store's warehouse and forcibly molested her. It was reported that this man was wearing an electronic monitoring device (electronic anklet) due to a prior sex crime conviction.

A convenience store owner announced plans to boycott Pok?mon bread at the entrance of their store. This photo was posted on an online community on the 22nd. Photo by Online Community

As the popularity of Pok?mon bread overheats, some are even showing a boycott movement. Some customers increasingly hold stores responsible for the sell-out situation, leading some store owners to declare they will not stock Pok?mon bread at all. There are also frequent cases where some consumers press or damage the bread before purchase to find the desired Tibutibu seal, causing store owners distress.

Meanwhile, as the scarcity phenomenon prolongs and consumer complaints grow, SPC Samlip posted an apology on its official Instagram on the 18th. SPC Samlip stated, "Although we are operating related production facilities 24 hours a day to supply as much Pok?mon bread as possible, it is still difficult to supply the product smoothly to all customers who want to purchase it," and "We apologize for the inconvenience caused to our customers."

Experts pointed out that the overheated popularity of Pok?mon bread is causing undesirable consumption behaviors. Professor Lee Eun-hee of Inha University's Department of Consumer Studies said, "Discarding the main product to obtain gifts or accessories is not considered a desirable consumption behavior," adding, "In the past (when Pok?mon bread was first released 16 years ago), children increasingly discarded the bread and only took the stickers, which was criticized and reported in the news."

Professor Lee further criticized some store owners' sales tactics, saying, "Consumers have the freedom to choose their purchases, and sales practices that hinder this, such as bundling or forced sales, are inappropriate."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.