Busan Fish Cake Shop's 'Lee Jae-yong Effect' Continues
Past Lee Jae-yong Sneakers and Lip Balm Also Trending
Last year, at the end of the year, a fish cake shop in Busan's Kkangtong Market, which became a hot topic due to the visit of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and others, is still reportedly enjoying the 'Lee Jae-yong effect' to a great extent. This fish cake shop displayed promotional phrases such as 'Fish cakes of Korea's VIPs' along with markings like 'The seat where Chairman Lee stood' and 'The spot where he swept up the fish cakes.'
"Boss, some fish cake broth please"... Fish cake shop visited by Lee Jae-yong sees sales ↑
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong is receiving fish cake broth from a vendor while tasting street food with President Yoon Suk-yeol at Ggangtong Market in Jung-gu, Busan on the 6th of last month. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Earlier, on the 6th of last month, President Yoon Suk-yeol visited the Busan Kkangtong Market fish cake shop together with Chairman Lee and other major group heads. At that time, Chairman Lee was holding a bowl of tteokbokki and eating when he asked the shop owner, "Boss, please give me some fish cake broth." After drinking the fish cake broth poured into a paper cup by the shop owner, Chairman Lee muttered to himself, "Ah, this is good."
Afterwards, the fish cake shop, whose sales surged sharply, expressed gratitude, attributing the increase to Chairman Lee. The shop stated on Instagram on the 12th of last month, "Thanks to Chairman Lee, our sales have increased tremendously," adding, "We will do our best to maintain trust with our customers so that this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity does not end as a momentary event." It is known that the shop's sales increased more than fivefold after Chairman Lee's visit.
As the so-called 'Lee Jae-yong effect' continued, the fish cake shop also expressed thanks on the 17th of last month, saying, "We are very grateful to Chairman Lee. Business is going very well," and added, "My younger brother, who only used iPhones, switched to Samsung. When his monitor reaches the end of its life, he will switch to Samsung as well."
This broke the stereotype that chaebols only use expensive goods and eat costly food, drawing attention. The late Kim Jung-ju, founder of Nexon and once ranked number one on Korea's rich list, said, "When I was drinking wine with guests at home, they said the wine glasses looked too expensive, so I told them I bought them at E-Mart." The heads of Korea's top companies and richest people can buy kimbap and sundae at markets and shop at marts.
When Lee Jae-yong wears it, it draws attention... from lip balm to sneakers, popularity soars
The 'Lee Jae-yong effect' is not new. The 'Skechers' sneakers, known as Chairman Lee's favorite shoes, also achieved cumulative sales of 120 billion KRW last year, becoming a hot topic. GS Shop announced that from 2017 until the end of October last year, the sales of 'Skechers' sneakers surpassed 120 billion KRW. Chairman Lee was cited as the reason for the sales increase. He consistently wore Skechers sneakers when attending trials related to the unfair merger allegations between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries. The shoes he wore were the 'Go Walk Arch Fit' model, priced in the 100,000 KRW range.
Additionally, the outdoor brand Arc'teryx's 'Firebee AR Parka' worn by Chairman Lee in 2019 also gained popularity. Although the product was expensive, costing over 1.45 million KRW, inquiries about the product surged simply because Chairman Lee wore it.
In the December 2016 National Assembly hearing, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong applies Softlips lip balm. [Image source=Yonhap News]
As a result, there is analysis that Chairman Lee has a greater impact on the distribution industry than famous celebrities or influencers. For example, the Under Armour polo shirt he wore at the Allen & Company Media Conference held in Sun Valley, Idaho, USA in 2014 was noted as the 'Lee Jae-yong workout wear,' and the Softlips lip balm he applied at the 2016 hearing was called the 'Lee Jae-yong lip balm,' gaining popularity.
'Airport fashion' also became a hot topic
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong is getting out of a car to depart for Vietnam through the Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center in Gangseo-gu in December 2021. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Meanwhile, Chairman Lee's airport fashion has also been a topic of interest. On December 21, 2021, during a business trip to Vietnam, he attracted attention by wearing a padded vest from the 2022 Fall/Winter (FW) season of 'Beanpole Golf,' a brand led by Samsung C&T's fashion division.
At that time, Chairman Lee wore a suit without a tie and layered a dark gray padded vest over it. Comments speculating which brand the vest was from followed. Some comments guessed it was a high-end luxury brand product such as 'Balmain' or 'Burberry' based on the letter B on the vest, but the product was actually from Beanpole Golf. The price was reported to be 439,000 KRW.
Meanwhile, public interest in Chairman Lee is also reflected in statistics. According to a big data analysis by the polling agency Data & Research, which analyzed netizen interest in the heads of the top 30 publicly disclosed corporate groups in Korea across 11 channels and 220,000 sites including YouTube and Instagram from July to September last year, Chairman Lee ranked first. Second place was Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun, and third place was SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won.
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