A Barnes & Noble’s Manga Display Is Going Viral For Its Unexpected K-Pop Twist
As K-Pop continues to become more of a global phenomenon, it is no surprise that different companies will promote directly to K-Pop fans.
For instance, ahead of BTS‘s PROOF comeback, American grocery store chain Trader Joe’s went purple to show its support of BTS’s long-awaited comeback with clever puns and purple hearts.
Similarly, the American bookseller chain Barnes & Noble recently went viral on K-Pop Twitter for a manga display.
WHAT,,,,??????? pic.twitter.com/OjD0tNeIqS
— db (@ultpledis17) September 6, 2022
Barnes & Noble often uses celebrity recommendations to promote different books that customers may want to check out. Previously, the store has also had a display of books recommended by BTS.
They have a section at this Barnes & Noble for books recommended by @BTS_twt
— Dita⁷ (@almostdita) May 15, 2021
In the new display, Barnes & Noble included manga recommendations from SHINee‘s Taemin, ENHYPEN‘s Jake, P1Harmony‘s Theo, BTS‘s Jin, TXT‘s Soobin and Hueningkai, Stray Kids‘ Lee Know and Hyunjin, SEVENTEEN‘s DK and Joshua, NCT‘s Yuta and Jeno, GOT7‘s Jinyoung, ATEEZ‘s Mingi, THE BOYZ‘s Sunwoo, and MONSTA X‘s Minhyuk.
Fans joked about how one of the workers must be a K-Pop multi-stan.
Someone on the Barnes and noble marketing team is a multi kpop fan 😂
— Meg 🌙 autumn 🍂 (@meg_marvels) September 6, 2022
And wished that their local Barnes & Noble would do the same thing.
why is your barnes better than mine 😔
— tannieᥫ᭡⁷ ia bc of school (@BBY3ONJUN) September 6, 2022
It’s definitely a clever marketing tactic.
thats literally so cute and cool https://t.co/qGgYJ28rkC
— lina¹⁷ . . . ♡ SOUL DAY !¡ 🪷 (@carolinascoree) September 6, 2022
they know how to sell https://t.co/gRddVs033h
— noa is seeing ateez (@pvrplemka) September 6, 2022
They know how to get people https://t.co/UtAvN5yoPn
— lee 🍀 0116 (@lV_LeefcloVer) September 6, 2022
After seeing the display, fans couldn’t help but joke about the manga selections for each of the idols.
wtf is soobin reading https://t.co/PzHZm1hvQb
— . (@BigFatCock5678) September 6, 2022
mingi recommending aot like i wont just buy the entire manga collection for him despite already reading it https://t.co/O62jzGEk40
— fatima l #1 halazia supporter (@wdigyeo) September 6, 2022
OMG MINHYUK THAT'S MY FAVORITE ONE TOO!!! https://t.co/Iw4xMt0fbN pic.twitter.com/wg2QT1WYmB
— lai :): | reason (@kyunquest) September 6, 2022
lee know …. what. https://t.co/EPgC7gTJYb
— ajax ⤮ #1 minsunger (@S1LENTHAN) September 6, 2022
omg taem with hxh just reminded of this https://t.co/xNAB3Oa0HW pic.twitter.com/dvxhs3TZ05
— anissa ♡ ૮ ･ ﻌ･ა (@highhaoareyou) September 6, 2022
Although some fans were jokingly confused about why SEVENTEEN’s Woozi, a well-known manga reader, didn’t make the display.
all of this and not one spot for woozi. he didn't sit and talk about anime for 6 hours to be disrespected like this https://t.co/Wowf5iBpo0
— rae (@kentohao) September 6, 2022
i got so scared that woozi was gonna be here and id have to defend him again😭😭😭 https://t.co/U6hz5Evyq5
— joy | woozi’s ONLY wife (REAL) (@tenschocochip) September 6, 2022
Overall, fans were entertained by the unexpected display.
put jin's name on anything and i'll consume wo question https://t.co/LTi28igZ3c pic.twitter.com/3LUCaVLYkn
— billy⁷ waiting for seokjin (@bilzeokjin) September 6, 2022
you could sell me anything with this method https://t.co/9VPOU0TYQy
— mark ⛳ (@morrkows) September 6, 2022
