Japanese probiotic drink Yakult is enjoying an increase in sales after making a brief appearance in the Netflix rom-com “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.”
Created by microbiologist Minoru Shirota in the 1930s, Yakult is a fermented mixture of skimmed milk and a special strain of the bacterium Lactobacillus casei, which Shirota identified and named after himself.
Yakult — which comes in a distinctive red foil cap — appears in a car scene in “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” as a “Korean yogurt smoothie.”
Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo), one of Lara Jean’s (Lana Condor) love interests, consumes the drink and comments, “Oh wow, that is really good.”
He then asks Lara’s sister, Kitty (Anna Cathcart), “What do I have to do to get you to bring me one of these tomorrow?”
As it turned out, the scene would give Yakult a popularity boost.
On top of spikes in “mention frequency,” the drink’s stocks rose by 2.6% since the film started streaming, Bloomberg reported.
There is also an increase in Yakult-inspired merchandise ranging from stickers to artwork, the Guardian noted.
Yakult can use the popularity boost after its shares took a dip in February when Danone, the world’s biggest yogurt maker, announced plans to sell about $1.8 billion of the Japanese company’s stock.
Needless to say, fans are now digging the coolest drink on the market.
I went to MD oriental (the Asian store of Asian stores) and they ran out of yakult because it got colonized it after to all the boys I loved. I was just trying to summon a peter kavinsky.
— alyssa (@alyssaaayass) September 6, 2018
Dear peter kavinsky, i have a whole pack with no one to share with of yakult a.k.a korean yogurt smoothie.
SKL. 😜
— Joys🌸💙 #10Yearswith2PM (@joyylet) September 7, 2018
fuck u peter kavinsky I can’t even buy my precious yakult now
— selena (@kyungfool) September 4, 2018
was gonna buy yakult at the grocery store and there were only two packs left,,, all the blue ones were untouched??? damn someone tell peter kavinsky to STOP
— lolita (@tonifranku) September 2, 2018
i just saw a pack of yakult “on sale” for 2 for $7.00 – this is the peter kavinsky inflation
— moira (@ctrlmoira) September 2, 2018
Still, some pointed out that they’ve been drinking Yakult way before Kavinsky could.
I remember being made fun of for drinking yakult at school and now because of a netflix movie it’s suddenly cool now pffffff
— Aprilyn Cunanan 🐑 (@sheeprilyn) September 4, 2018
These americans are so hyped about Yakult since that netflix film came out, but we asians be chugging this up everyday since childhood wtf
— Bianca Labraque (@biancalabraque) September 5, 2018
to all the yakult I drank before netflix hyped them up and made them cool
— alex reyes (@theALEXX) September 7, 2018
It took a Netflix rom-com to introduce the western society to Yakult while we been chugging this shit since birth
— Aniq (@aniqvqil) September 5, 2018
So does this make me a Yakult hipster? Cos I’ve been drinking it before it was cool
— Sean 🎸🎶 (@toohey_sean) September 4, 2018
Have you tried Yakult yet?
Featured Images via Netflix
