Angry investors call for Namyang boycott over pseudoscientific claims

Namyang Dairy Products' Bulgaris drinking yogurt is on display at a supermarket in Seoul, last week. Yonhap

By Kim Jae-heun

Angry investors are calling on consumers to vote with their wallets by boycotting Namyang Dairy Products, after the company released the pseudoscientific claim that its yogurt drink Bulgaris can help control COVID-19.

After Namyang's claim, its share price rose over 8 percent, April 13, and by 28.68 percent the following morning. However, experts including those at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety questioned Bulgaris' effectiveness against the coronavirus and concluded that the company had exaggerated “research” results. The dairy product firm's stock nosedived by nearly a third over the next four days.

Angry investors who bought into the claim and purchased stock in the company are now protesting the move by Namyang.

They are employing social media to call for the public to join them in boycotting the company's products under a number of slogans such as “Let's not buy Namyang Dairy Product's items,” “Don't forget what they have done” and “They shouldn't have lied to manipulate the stock price.”

The movement spread to powerful internet communities including momscafe.net, an online portal for mothers to share information on all manner of topics not limited to childrearing. There people wrote “I was already boycotting Namyang and I will continue to do so” and “Companies that make fun of customers should be brought down.”

“We apologize to our customers for causing misunderstanding with our research results. The test was not based on human testing, but at the cellular stage, from which we couldn't have concluded its effectiveness against COVID-19,” a Namyang Dairy Product official said.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety sent officials to check the validity of Namyang's research results and allegations that the company is in breach of the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Food, April 15.

The ministry said Namyang was behind the claim as it funded the research and sponsored a symposium to promote the yogurt drink's anti-viral effects. It added that Namyang had the intent to promote its product through the event which is a violation of the law.

Previously, Namyang experienced a customer boycott in 2013, after its salesmen forced small dealers to purchase soon-to-expire products with little remaining shelf life. They also refused to accept returns from retailers, which they were contractually obliged to do.

At that time, the parent firms of convenience stores launched a boycott against Namyang and many customers showed their support.