People gather in front of the headquarters of food and beverage giant SPC Group in Seoul on Oct. 20, 2022, to pay their respects to a 23-year-old worker killed in an accident at a bread making factory of the group on Oct. 15. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — Ahead of Christmas, a prime season for cakes, anti-SPC sentiment is on the rise with many vowing to avoid purchasing SPC products.
A boycott movement of SPC Group brands began in October, after a 23-year-old worker killed in a sauce mixer accident at at the factory affiliated with the South Korean food and beverage giant.
The movement accelerated after it was revealed that the group, which also runs the Paris Baguette bakery chain, ordered employees to work at the factory in question a day after the accident, and sent bread as a condolence gift to the employee’s funeral.
The Itaewon crowd crush and the World Cup offered a temporary respite from public attention, but the boycott movement is once again growing in strength online ahead of the Christmas holiday.
Online communities of young women in their 20s and 30s, the largest consumption power in the cake market, are filled with photos that they have bought cakes from stores other than the SPC brand.
Several SPC-affiliated bakeries have complained about plunging cake reservations and sales in recent months.
“So far, the reservations have halved since last year,” an employee working at Paris Baguette store in Yongsan District said.
“With the upcoming Christmas season, consumers have naturally turned their attention to cakes, which reminded them of the SPC boycott movement,” said Lee Eun-hee, a professor of consumer science at Inha University.
“A few consumers who believe SPC has dealt with the accident poorly are inciting others to boycott the company.”
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
