Dookki, a leading Korean tteokbokki franchise brand, has sparked controversy after it was revealed to have run marketing in Taiwan that belittled the Korea national baseball team's game outcome. It used so-called "score fixing" allegations as a promotional device.
According to industry sources on the 12th, Dookki's official Taiwan social media (SNS) account posted several photos of a man on his knees holding a piece of paper and apologizing. The paper read, "We shouldn't have fixed the score," and "A bigger person doesn't blame tteokbokki." It also added that a two-person set would be sold for 540 Taiwan dollars (about 25,000 won) through the end of March.
The issue lies in the number "540" specified in the promotional material and the term "fixing." The number "540" recalls the Mar. 8 World Baseball Classic (WBC) group-stage game in which Korea lost to Taiwan 4-5. This appears to be an attempt to use the pain of defeat as a marketing tool. In particular, it damaged the honor of the Korea national baseball team by describing the result of a fair contest as "fixing."
On top of this, the "kneeling apology photo" used in the post is known as a meme (online derivative content) in Taiwan's online communities, used with a sneering meaning like, "Sorry for being unfair. So what," which further intensified the controversy.
In fact, protests from local Korean residents and baseball fans poured in. On Dookki's official Taiwan SNS, critical comments appeared such as, "You touched what must not be touched," and "You used hateful sentiment in marketing to make money."
As the controversy grew, Dookki headquarters said, "It was an event planned independently in Taiwan," and demanded the post be deleted and a recurrence prevented. In response, Dookki's Taiwan subsidiary deleted the post that day and, in an apology, said, "We tried to engage with fans by tapping into the passion for baseball, but our planning and communication were insufficient and caused discomfort," adding, "We will conduct a full internal review of our marketing process."
However, the controversial 2-person 540 Taiwan dollars discount event is expected to continue through the 31st of this month.
Earlier, on Mar. 9 ahead of a push for the WBC quarterfinals, the Korea national baseball team faced Australia in its final group-stage game. In that game, if Korea scored 8 runs and Australia 3, Taiwan, which led in runs allowed rate, would advance to the quarterfinals. But when Korea beat Australia 7-2 and Taiwan was eliminated from the group stage, some Taiwanese baseball fans swarmed Korea player Mun Bo-gyeong's SNS with so-called score-fixing allegations, posting "intentional strikeout," among other abusive comments.