Mackis Company Donates Scholarships Despite Sharp Sales Decline... '7.2 Billion Won Over 3 Years'

President Kim Gyusik of Mackis Company (left) is taking a commemorative photo with Kwon Hyukyi, Executive Director of Chungnam Talent Development Foundation (right), after delivering the 'Now We Are Chungnam Talent Development Scholarship' on the 21st. Photo by Mackis Company

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] McKiss Company completed the delivery of scholarship funds accumulated last year. McKiss Company, a producer of the local soju brand 'Ijeurin,' is conducting the 'Ijeurin Local Love Scholarship Campaign' to establish a culture of donation shared by both consumers and producers.

On the 21st, McKiss Company announced that it had delivered 10 million KRW in scholarship funds to the Chungnam Talent Development Foundation.

The delivered scholarship funds were raised by accumulating a portion of the soju sales revenue from Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungnam regions (5 KRW per bottle). The scholarship funds raised last year using the same method amounted to 202,936,900 KRW.

Previously, McKiss Company sequentially delivered scholarships by local city, county, and district, and with the delivery to the Chungnam Talent Development Foundation on this day, all the scholarship funds raised last year have been donated.

The scholarship campaign is a kind of local consumption movement that started in 2019, where local residents purchase products produced locally and invest in social value.

McKiss Company's target for scholarship fund accumulation over 10 years is 4 billion KRW, and the total accumulated scholarship funds over the past three years until last year amount to 724,914,450 KRW.

However, McKiss Company anticipates difficulties in raising the originally targeted scholarship funds due to a sharp decline in sales caused by the impact of COVID-19 and other factors during this period.

In fact, the scholarship fund amount recorded in the first year of the campaign was 307,987,450 KRW, which decreased to 213,991,000 KRW in 2020 and 202,936,900 KRW in 2021.

Considering that the scholarship funds are donated to public scholarship foundations in the soju sales regions and used to support youths from financially disadvantaged families, the reduction in scholarship funds due to poor sales is a regrettable point.

Kim Gyu-sik, CEO of McKiss Company, said, “McKiss Company is a local company that has taken on both difficult and good tasks for the local community for the past 17 years. However, recently, due to the impact of COVID-19 and the advertising and supply offensive by large corporations, the market share of local soju has sharply declined, putting the scholarship campaign in a red alert situation.”

He added, “More than ever, a word of support like ‘Please choose local!’ for the local company dedicated to the community rather than large corporate products is desperately needed.”

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