Pokémon Spam Goes From Grocery Shelves to eBay Sales
A new Pokémon collaboration shows that the franchise can make anything collectible, even food tins.
As Pokémon celebrates its 30th year, the collecting craze is stronger than ever. Classic cards keep selling for high prices, and commemorative collaborations with brands from Lego to Adidas produce new items for fans to collect. These new collectibles are hits on the resale market, too, as a recent partnership with Spam has shown.
Yes, Spam—the processed meat product that comes in a can. While Americans might be more likely to see Pokémon on a Pop-Tarts box or in fast food kids’ meals, the franchise released specially branded sets of Spam in South Korea, starting on September 9. But in a world with a global online marketplace, this isn’t so exclusive. Unopened sets hit eBay within days of their first release. A group of all three available sets sold on eBay for $88 (plus shipping), almost double its retail price of 59,700 won (about $45) on September 11.
Each set includes five 200g tins of Spam and a sticker sheet (decorating lunch boxes is apparently a recommended use) packaged together in a gift bag, all themed around one of three well-known Pokémon: purple blob Ditto, big blue Snorlax, or fiery orange Charmander. They retail at 19,900 won, or about $15.
Buying all three sets at official retailers gets customers an additional gift: a keychain with a fuzzy Ditto or Snorlax holding a plush bowl of rice and Spam. The keychains alone are selling for over $100 each on eBay.
Spam gift sets, usually consisting of several tins of the processed meat, cooking oils, and spices, are a tradition in South Korea. The Pokémon collaboration comes in time for Chuseok, a South Korean harvest festival comparable to Thanksgiving. It is observed on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, coinciding with the harvest moon; this year, it falls on September 25. Families celebrate by filling a table with freshly harvested foods in honor of their ancestors; preparing and eating a meal together (a steamed rice cake called songpyeon is a popular dish); and giving gifts.
In 2015, South Korea was reported to be the world’s second-largest consumer of Spam, behind only the United States. American soldiers introduced it to the country during the Korean War; to this day, a favorite South Korean Spam dish is budae jjigae, or army stew. The greasy, salty meat product fit in well with the flavors of Korean cuisine, and, by the 1980s, it had become as much of a cultural staple as a dietary one, with gift sets appearing in stores around holidays.
Gotta catch 'em all!
