Choo Shin-soo joins hands with Shinsegae Food to support youth baseball
SSG Landers designated hitter Choo Shin-soo holds a bottle of his name-branded mineral water at SSG Landers Field in Incheon, Wednesday. Courtesy of Shinsegae Food
By Kim Jae-heun
Former Major League Baseball star and a current SSG Landers designated hitter Choo Shin-soo has joined hands with Shinsegae Food to launch a mineral water product and direct the profits to foster young baseball players, the company said Friday.
The product takes its name from the baseball player and its bottle is wrapped with his animated likeness swinging a bat.
On the packaging, the phrase “Water for better champion” was included so that consumers could participate in supporting youth baseball players through the purchase of the bottled-water beverage and convey the story behind the product.
“As I play baseball on the world stage, I have learned one thing. For players to have a long career, it is important that they build a strong body and mind,” Choo said in a video released on Shinsegae Food's official YouTube channel, Thursday.
“To make a dream come true, passion must come along as well as effort. And it is important that we create an environment for young players to focus only on baseball and train systematically,” Choo added.
The mineral water will be sold at Shinsegae's retail channels such as Emart, Emart24, Emart Everyday, Gmarket, SSG.com and No Brand. No Brand is a private label of the country's largest discount store Emart and also operates the fast food chain No Brand Burger.
Choo and Shinsegae have been supporting local young baseball talent together since last year.
They regularly send food from No Brand Burger to five middle school baseball teams in Incheon and other kids' baseball teams with players from minority groups.
“We hope to take part in developing Korean youth baseball, together with Choo. We will also continue to fulfill our corporate social responsibilities through various social contribution activities,” a Shinsegae Food official said.