The "all-you-can-fill snack" promotion underway at E-MART is generating unexpected heat among consumers. Going beyond a simple discount event, it is being consumed like a game to see how much you can pack, spreading as a kind of challenge centered on social media (SNS) and online communities.
According to the industry on the 4th, E-MART has been running the all-you-can-fill snack event since on the 29th as part of its large-scale discount program "Goraeit Festa." The original schedule was through on the 1st, but as participation surged, the run was reportedly extended to the 4th. From on the 29th to on the 2nd, the event's performance was tallied at more than 150% of the initial sales target.
Participation is simple. When a consumer pays 25,000 won, a designated box is provided, and they can fill that box with as many snacks as they want without restriction. The event covers 10 popular Haitai Confectionery snacks, including Matdongsan, Honey Butter Chip, and Osatsu, with a prepared supply said to total about 3 million bags.
On SNS, photos and videos show snacks stacked like a tower well above the box's height, and tips such as "Start from the bottom and press out the air as you stack," "Fill the gaps like Tetris," and "If you weave using the wire attached to the Matdongsan package, it falls less" are spreading in comments and posts. In practice, several dozen bags are common, and there are even reviews claiming as many as 181 bags.
One participant who said they packed up to 181 bags shared in a review, "At first, I thought it was a solo game, but in the store, everyone was building snack towers together," describing the on-site reaction. They said there were customers nearby offering stacking techniques, and staff guided foot traffic or took commemorative photos, creating the characteristic scene of a participatory event.
There were side effects, however. On secondhand platforms, posts reselling snacks obtained through the event were easy to find, sparking a scalping controversy. Online, opinions split between criticism such as "Why buy more than you'll eat?" and "I knew it would end up as scalping," and the response that "Some people are packing for donation purposes."