No. 151 / Apr 19, 2021
In February, an anonymous high school student sent a handwritten letter to the headquarters of a chicken franchise. According to the letter released by Mr. Park, the owner of the chicken franchise in Hongdae, via Social Network Service (SNS), the student had lost his parents at an early age and was currently living with his grandmother and seven-year-old brother. The student was having a difficult time because of COVID-19 and he did not have enough money to buy chicken, so he just walked around the chicken store near his house with his brother. At this time, Park asked the boy to enter the store and he served him chicken worth 20,000 won for free. Whenever the young boy visited the store alone, Park treated him with chicken and took him to a hair salon. When the news spread through an online community, the store gained huge popularity and even people from far away ordered chicken, sending gifts to him, and saying, “Let us buy products from the store that is doing the right thing.”
This is not the only store that has been spreading such kindness. The origin of this good influence store concept began with “Real Pasta”. Mr. Oh, the owner of the Real Pasta, offered free meals to hungry children after finding out that they were starving due to various restrictions, even though they were given Dream Tree cards. Then, the movement became widely known, many Chief Executive Officers (CEO) joined the campaign, and it spread not only throughout Seoul, but also in other provinces. Currently, the good influence store campaign is receiving applications through their website and stores, including restaurants, cafes, academies, and glasses. When a store applies, stickers with the good influence store symbols are delivered to the store, and information about each store is also available on the website. Currently, this movement has become even more popular thanks to news or SNS, and there are now about 1,900 participating stores.
Information regarding the location, product information, and target market of each good influence store is available on the official website (www.goodinfluencer.com). In addition, this heartwarming movement has made its way to Ajou University. The Davich Glasses Store in the Ajou University three-way intersection provides children under the age of 18 with the eyeglass frames and lenses that they need. Now, even though all self-employed people are negatively affected by COVID-19, the number of good influence stores that think of their neighbors first is increasing. Their warm movements to help children give people a great example. Although it is a difficult time for everyone, The Ajou Globe (The AG) hopes that this will serve as a reminder to do what we can for our neighbors in need.
By Je Hee-su, AG Senior Editor
xsma@ajou.ac.kr