Last year, a group of South Korean college students got the media spotlight for completing a 1.3-kilometer journey across the Hangang River on a self-built raft, attracting more than 200 spectators.

What was so special about this raft? It was built by tying together 160 unopened bags of potato chips, to protest against snack-makers that made consumers feel as if they “bought nitrogen gas packets that came with a couple of free snacks,” as one of the paddlers put it at the time.


The stunt served as a witty reflection of the growing public disdain toward local snack companies for packaging what critics say includes small quantities of food items and too much empty space despite continued hikes in prices.

Local market research firm Consumer Research released data last year showing that in 17 of 20 snacks manufactured by Orion, Lotte, Haitai and Crown -- the country’s leading snack-makers -- the actual product filled less than half of the packaging.

Aiming to win back consumer trust, local snack companies have begun to address such concerns.

At the forefront of the movement is Korea’s leading snack giant Orion Confectionery, which made a bold decision last month to increase the size of its best-selling Choco Pie, from 35 grams to 39 grams, without raising the price.

In September, the snack-maker increased the size of Pocachip, another highly popular product -- from 60g to 66g and from 124g to 137g -- without raising prices. The firm also reduced the vacuum inside the packaging down to 25 percent from the 35 percent set by the Ministry of Environment.

The moves are part of an ongoing project led by Orion vice chairman Huh In-cheol to reduce excessive packaging and to increase the content of its snack products. Orion has reportedly decreased the packaging of 21 products and increased the size of nine packs since November 2014.


Sales of Pocachip reached 13.8 billion ($11.78 million), up by roughly 22 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Orion.

“The sales hike reflects positive consumer responses to Orion’s efforts to reduce excessive packaging and to increase the quantity of our snacks,” an Orion spokesperson told The Korea Herald.

“We plan to continue to improve the packaging and the quantity of our snacks across diverse categories. We hope that others in the industry will join such efforts,” he said.

Haitai has taken on a similar move by increasing the quantity of its products this year -- Baked Onion (from 56g to 70g), and Baked Injeolmi (from 116g to 140g). However, the company faced lingering criticism as the two products only take up a minor part of their sales and its best-selling snack Baked Potato remains unchanged.

Meanwhile, other snack-makers, most notably Lotte Confectionery, have reduced snack contents or raised prices without increasing the quantity.

Lotte hiked the price of its best-selling stick snack Pepero last year from 1,000 won to 1,200 won after including two more sticks, adding 10g. In April this year, it removed three sticks without lowering the price, drawing much public criticism.

The firm also reduced the content of two popular chocolate products -- Dream Cacao 72% and Dream Cacao 52% -- by 4.4 percent without lowering the price. Lotte currently has no stated plans to lower prices, increase quantity or reduce packaging.

“As consumer dissatisfaction over excessive packaging and product content linger, local snack-makers must work to address such concerns in some way, as Orion is doing, in order to remain competitive in the long run,” said an industry official.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)