This pokemon bread was first launched in 1999. The company decided to put stickers inside the bread as an appendix. The stickers had Pokémon characters on them. The stickers are named,“Ddi-bu-ddi-bu-shil” which, when translated, means  that they can stick on and off. There are 159 types of these stickers. The legendary stickers are “Mew and Mutts”, which are very rare. People sold these two legendary characters for a high price. Unlike nowadays, in 1999, children did not have many  things to play with and entertain themselves with such as YouTube or online games. This was a reason why sticker collecting was so popular back in those days. 

Back in those days, the Pokemon bread company also had an event to encourage  children to collect the stickers even more. The event was that if you collected a certain sticker and posted a certification online, you would get a Nintendo switch, which was sold for an extremely high price back then. These giveaway events made children want to collect the stickers even more. 

The famous Pokémon bread sticker collecting became so popular to the point that children bought the bread just to get the sticker. The pastry contained in the Pokémon breads would be seen in trash cans without a single bite in it. It was considered such a big deal that even news broadcasting stations talked about it. A news reporter even said, “ Children are paying for the sticker and the bread comes along with it,”. 

After a few years, the trend died, making Samlip, the Pokemon bread company, decrease their supply. As the children and teens grew older in age, so did the interest in the bread. Samlip did not produce a lot of bread as they would not be sold well. A few of them would be seen at convenience stores, but it was not as common.

On February, 23rd, 2022, Samlip started selling the Pokemon breads again. The children who once bought the bread using allowance had now grown up as adults. They started getting interested in the bread again as it gave them nostalgia and childhood memories. In addition, since they were now adults, they had more financial power to buy a lot at once.

Markets and convenience stores are sold out of this bread as everyone is wanting to purchase it. It brings back the memories that the adults had when they were young, which is why adults in their 20s and 30s are searching for this bread. Some people are even buying 10 or more at a single purchase. People are collecting and trading stickers again like they did back then.

 

 

 

Some people sell these stickers for a high price online. It’s all over social media and the internet. Convenience stores and markets are out of it. It’s trending everywhere. Nobody could have predicted that a trend from 20 years ago would be popular again now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yuna Hong 

Grade 11

Seoul Global High School

 

 

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