About
A snackpack is an assortment of packaged candies and chips that are taped together with straps to be carried on one’s back.
Origin
On June 18th, 2014, Korean Facebook community What Should I Eat Today featured a set of photographs showcasing “snackpacks,” or backpacks made out of sncks, submitted by two high school students Ji Hyun Lee and Back Seo Yeon. In less than a week, the post gained more than 99,000 likes and 3,200 shares.
Spread
In the following week, the “snackpack” idea continued to spread across Facebook and became a novelty birthday gift for classmates, especially among high school girls, leading to a slew of photographs of imitations and one-up challenges on Facebook, Instagram and other social networking sites in Korea.
By June 16th, various collections of “snackpacks” had been featured on several internet humor forums and D.I.Y craft blogs, including Wikitree, Naver and Leftclick, where they were mostly met with positive feedback and praised as “good, clean fun.” On June 23rd, Kotaku’s Brian Ashcroft reported on the phenomenon of snackpack gifting among Korean high school students, introducing the emerging trend to the English-speaking audience, followed by Foodbeast’s coverage in an article titled “Latest Korean Meme Has Schoolgirls Carrying Giant Backpacks Made of Junk Food.”
External References
[1]Naver Blog – 과자 가방 맨 석하
[4]Nate Video – 2011년도 여름휴가 잇 아이템 과자가방
[4]Facebook – 오늘 뭐 먹지? added 6 new photos
[5]Wikitree – 간식을 이용한 특별한 생일선물 ‘과방’
[6]Leftclick – 요즘 유행하는 여고생 생일선물.jpg
[7]Facebook – 여고생들 사이에 유행중인 생일선물, 과방이라고ㅋㅋ
[8]Naver – Image search results for 과자가방=
[9]Foodbeast – Latest Korean Meme Has Schoolgirls Carrying Giant Backpacks Made of Junk Food
[10]Kotaku – Korean Schoolgirls Wearing Backpacks Made of Junk Food