January 10, 2022, 02:27 PM
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Soft drinks are a must-have during Chinese New Year.
In Malaysia, it is definitely the case as Malaysian shoppers thronged Econsave, a supermarket chain, over the Jan. 7 to 9 weekend, just to get their hands on the carbonated liquid -- by the dozen.
The Coco-cola drinks sold by the carton appear to be highly popular, due to their low price of RM20.88 (S$6.72) per 24-packet carton.
If you do the math, one can only cost around S$0.28.
Crowds with no safe distancing
In a video shared on Facebook, customers could be seen crowding around the Coca-cola cartons in an attempt to grab them and throw them into their trolleys.
While people wore masks, no safe distancing was adhered to at all.
In another video, impatient customers could not wait for the staff to restock the cartons on the shelves and were grabbing the products for themselves as the supermarket employees were wheeling out the stock.
Here's another video of the jostling crowds:A damaged carton abandoned on the ground was found at one of the supermarkets in the midst of the shopping frenzy.
Image via Shopping Wang's Facebook page.
All stocks were snatched up as a picture of the empty space where the cartons were placed at one outlet surfaced on Facebook:
Photo by Inforoadblock's Facebook page.
Reactions
Some online criticised the unruly snatching and lack of safe distancing despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, while others made comments about the unhealthy nature of such soft drinks.
Comment translates as "Drinking too much cola is not good for the body."
Comments translate as. "Hospital doctors have work to do now." and "Do you need to grab like that?" respectively.
Comment translates as, "Is this necessary? Not afraid of getting infected with Omicron?"
Others speculated that the mad rush might be due to merchants who are looking to procure their stock at reduced prices just to resell them at marked up prices later on.
Comment translates as “Cheap prices, RM10.00, no wonder so many people are grabbing. Is it possible that they're planning to sell them? Econ employees are also saved the trouble of arranging the goods.
A Malaysian cartoonist likened the phenomenon to the toilet roll frenzy during the Covid-19 lockdown periods.
Last weekend's promotions
Econsave first shared the promotions on Jan. 7 on their Facebook page.
The post has amassed 1,800 likes, 134 comments and 261 shares at the time of writing.
Image via Econsave's Facebook page.
The promotional deals were available throughout peninsula Malaysia from Jan. 7 to 9, 2022.
Besides Coco-cola, the promotional image included the following beverage deals:
- Yeo's packet drinks at RM10.99 (S$3.55) per 24-packet carton (S$0.15 each packet)
- 100 Plus at RM22.88 (S$7.39) per 28-can carton (S$0.26 each can)
- Tiger Beer at RM126.88 (S$40.98) per 24-can carton (S$1.71 per can)
According to the poster, the discounted beverages were limited to two cartons per family per day.
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Top images via Alex Ho Yee Ban and Wayne Lee on Facebook.
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