[ Asia Economy ] A mishap occurred when a condom product appeared in the photo posted by THE BOYZ member Eric on November 11th to commemorate ‘Pepero Day’.
On the 11th, several online communities posted an article titled ‘Idol disaster thinking it was Pepero but posted a condom’. Author A shared a photo Eric posted for his fans, saying, “Eric writes a handwritten letter every year on Pepero Day and tweets it with Pepero, but this Pepero is what he bought this year. Oh, what to do,” expressing embarrassment. The disclosed photo features a box resembling a Pepero product and a heartfelt handwritten letter.
The issue is that the product is not Pepero candy but a condom. It is known that this product was made by the company Bareun Thinking, which strives for developing content for proper sexual culture, in collaboration with ‘GS25’ to promote healthy sexual culture. The outer packaging looks very similar to actual Pepero, with a message to naturally expose various products promoting healthy sexual lifestyle in daily life. This product is sold temporarily only until today, the 11th.
Realizing this fact later, Eric deleted the post and directly explained to the fans. He started saying, “Honestly, I’m so embarrassed and ashamed right now that I’m going to hide in a mouse hole for a week.” He continued, “After work today, I went to the convenience store in front of our dorm and picked from the place where Pepero was displayed outside, but I didn’t know,” and “I really didn’t know what it was or that it was such a thing.” He added, “There were many Peperos, but since it said ‘Dear.’, it reminded me of THE BOYZ’s fan song ‘Dear’ and I thought it would be perfect if I wrote ‘Dear. TheB’ in the blank space, so I picked it, but if it was shocking, I’m sorry,” finishing the note with, “Then, I’m going to swoosh into the mouse hole now.”
Netizens who saw the post reacted in various ways, saying, “It looks like Pepero to anyone” “Thinking it was given out at work is thrilling” “It’s understandable to be confused” “I almost bought that too” “Unexpected marketing from Bareun Thinking” “Now that Eric bought it, I kind of want to buy it” and more.
Meanwhile, Bareun Thinking also made condoms in 2019 that looked like tomato ketchup, hot sauce, etc. to prevent negative views when teenagers purchase or possess condoms by changing the packaging. These product photos caused a big stir on numerous social networking services (SNS), but were only used for campaigns and never actually sold.
Seoji Young, Intern Reporter zo2zo2zo2@asiae.co.kr
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