South Korea Turns to Viral Cookies and K-pop Cards as Blood Donor Numbers Fall

668 Donors in a Day as Cookies Draw a Crowd

Eight blood donation centers in Seoul collected donations from 668 people on January 16, a 116 percent increase from the previous Friday, after offering one of South Korea's most sought after desserts. The reward was a Dubai-style chewy cookie known locally as dujjonku, a treat that has sent customers into long bakery queues in freezing winter weather.

The Korean Red Cross is using the cookies, alongside collectible photo cards of the K-pop group ENHYPEN, to attract donors as the country struggles to maintain its blood reserves. The campaign connects an urgent medical need with products that young people already want.

At the Gwanghwamun Blood Donation Center in central Seoul, Choi Sang-hun, a 21-year-old office worker, obtained the coveted cookie by donating blood. He avoided the long wait that often comes with buying one at a bakery.

The appeal has brought an immediate increase in visitors. Centers offering the treats have reported early morning rushes and donation numbers reaching double or triple their usual levels. For the Red Cross, those visits provide temporary relief while a much larger problem continues: South Korea has fewer donors, an aging population and a growing need for medical care.

Figures attributed to the Korean Red Cross and the Ministry of Data and Statistics show that the number of people donating blood at least once a year fell by 25.4 percent over a decade. Nearly 1.7 million people donated in 2014, compared with approximately 1.26 million in 2024, the lowest level since records began in 2005. The cookie campaign is an attempt to bring new people through the door before that shrinking donor pool puts further pressure on hospitals.

Why the Blood Supply Is Under Pressure

South Korea faces two demographic changes at the same time. Its older population needs more medical care, including operations and treatments requiring blood transfusions, while fewer young people are entering the ages when they can become donors.

The country has entered the category of a super-aged society, described in the January 25 account as a United Nations classification for a country where more than 21 percent of residents are aged 65 or older. South Korea also has the world's lowest fertility rate, which stood at 0.75 in 2024. The fertility rate describes the average number of children a woman would have under the birth patterns measured in that year.

Fewer births mean smaller generations of potential donors in the years ahead. At the other end of the age range, existing donors eventually become too old to remain eligible. The combination makes replacing departing donors increasingly difficult.

Blood reserves reached the level considered adequate on only 248 days in 2025. Stocks were below the target for roughly one-third of the year. The Red Cross benchmark is enough blood to cover at least five days of daily requirements, but the agency has struggled to maintain that buffer, leaving the country persistently in an alert monitoring stage.

The main dates show how the pressure has developed:

• 2005: Collection of the annual donor data began.
• 2014: Nearly 1.7 million people donated blood at least once during the year.
• 2024: The annual donor total fell to approximately 1.26 million, while the fertility rate stood at 0.75.
• 2025: Blood reserves met the adequate level on 248 days.
• January 16, 2026: Eight Seoul centers attracted 668 donors during a cookie giveaway, up 116 percent from the previous Friday.

Why Donations Must Keep Coming

Blood cannot be manufactured synthetically in a laboratory to replace the donations hospitals need. The supply depends on volunteers, and the components collected from them have limited storage lives. Red blood cells can be kept for up to 42 days, while platelets last only five to seven days.

Those limits make regular donations essential. Even a successful collection drive cannot create a reserve that lasts indefinitely. Hospitals need a continuing flow of donations as stored components are used or reach the end of their storage period.

Shin Geum-ok, a nurse who has worked at the Gwanghwamun Blood Donation Center for three decades, has seen the strain directly. She said supplies frequently remain tight, sometimes delaying transfusions. A shrinking donor base leaves less room to respond when patients suddenly need blood.

Hospitals facing shortages can have to postpone elective surgery or search urgently for blood for emergency trauma care. Elective surgery means an operation that can be scheduled, rather than one that must happen immediately. Delaying it still affects patients waiting for treatment.

The Red Cross has consequently moved beyond familiar rewards such as snacks and vouchers. Its newer promotions offer items with particular appeal among younger consumers, turning the chance to obtain a scarce dessert or collectible into a reason to visit a donation center.

How Dujjonku Became a Donation Reward

Dubai-style chewy cookies grew out of the wider enthusiasm for Dubai chocolate. The cookies combine melted marshmallows and chocolate to produce a chewy texture, with a filling of pistachio cream and shredded pastry called kadaif.

The demand has been intense. Data from Naver, South Korea's largest search engine, showed that online searches for the dessert increased more than twentyfold in the three months before the promotion. Searches on food delivery apps jumped by 1,500 times in a single month.

Bakeries have drawn customers willing to queue early in the morning despite freezing temperatures. For someone unable to obtain the cookie easily, a donation reward can therefore carry more appeal than its price alone suggests.

K-pop celebrities have helped spread the fashion. Jang Won-young, a member of the girl group IVE, posted an Instagram photograph with chocolate powder on her lips. The image helped fuel another trend, the Dujjonku lip, linking the dessert to celebrity style as well as taste.

The Red Cross has drawn on that existing enthusiasm. Choi's experience at Gwanghwamun illustrates the attraction: a treat that might otherwise require a long queue became available through a blood donation. The reward offered immediate satisfaction alongside the medical value of giving blood.

A Busy Morning at Gwanghwamun

Shin described the difference during the first day of the cookie promotion at her center. By midmorning, the number of donors had already moved well beyond the usual count.

As of 10:30 a.m., we usually see about four or five donors, but today we've had 14—more than double,

The nurse's observation matched the wider increase recorded on January 16 across eight Seoul centers. Their combined total of 668 donors was more than twice the previous Friday's level, giving the Red Cross an immediate increase in collections.

The promotion marks a change in how the organization asks for help. Traditional appeals focus on public service and the needs of patients. The cookie campaign adds a tangible exchange: donors give their time and blood, and receive something currently difficult to buy.

The Red Cross hopes that an appealing first visit can become the start of a lasting habit. Whether donors recruited through these rewards will keep returning over the longer term has not yet been established. The immediate result is a rise in attendance; the continuing challenge is sustaining donations after the excitement around a particular product fades.

K-pop Collectibles and New Donors

ENHYPEN photo cards provide another route to young donors. The cards are collectible items that fans trade or sell, giving them value within K-pop fan communities. Selected donation centers have offered them as rewards.

The Red Cross is targeting teenagers and people in their twenties, groups central to replacing the donors who will eventually leave the eligible population. The approach uses the same consumer culture that helped make dujjonku popular: an item becomes desirable through scarcity, collecting and an association with celebrities.

Kim Jo-eun, a 21-year-old college student, said the cookie was her main reason for donating. Her reaction also showed how a reward can bring someone into an activity they had previously given little thought.

I never really cared about donating blood before, so it was kind of embarrassing to come just for the dujjonku,

Kim then expressed an interest in returning without the same incentive.

I should probably donate blood more often, even when it is not about dujjonku.

Hwang Dae-young, a 34-year-old office worker, also saw potential in the events. He suggested that they bring in more donors and could be especially useful when directed toward donations of platelets and plasma, which take longer to give.

That longer commitment matters for recruitment. A reward attractive enough to prompt a visit may also encourage someone to set aside more time for the type of donation a center needs.

Why Regular Donors See It Differently

Yang Chung-mo, 59, had already registered to donate when he learned about the cookie giveaway. A regular donor for years, he questioned how much influence such promotions have on people who already give blood as part of their routine.

I don't think promotions like this have much influence on blood donation,

Yang added that most repeat donors give regardless of external rewards. His experience differs from Kim's: the cookie helped motivate her visit, while he was already there to donate.

The two responses point to different jobs for the Red Cross. It needs to retain people who already donate through habit or a sense of civic duty, while recruiting new participants to replace those who stop. A popular reward can give an undecided newcomer a reason to act, even when it has little effect on an established donor.

The campaign's longer value depends on what happens after that first visit. The Red Cross hopes that familiarity with the donation process and a stronger sense of helping patients will bring people back. Kim's stated intention suggests that possibility, while Yang's skepticism reflects the importance of motivations that last beyond a promotion.

The Price of Following a Food Craze

A dujjonku weighing just 50 grams costs an average of about 6,500 won, or roughly $4.40. Offering a sought after dessert therefore carries different financial demands from handing out a standard snack.

Giveaways are often limited to a few hundred cookies per center per day. Providing them raises the cost associated with collecting blood compared with ordinary snack provisions, while their popularity can make securing enough stock difficult.

The craze has also pushed up ingredient prices. Price tracking data cited in the January 25 account showed that unshelled pistachios became four times as expensive in a month, while the price of kadaif doubled.

Those increases complicate future promotions. The Red Cross faces the practical task of obtaining enough cookies through bulk arrangements or the wider market while demand remains high. A reward that attracts donors can become harder and more expensive to supply precisely because so many people want it.

Viral trends also have a limited life. As attention shifts to another food or collectible, the organization may need a new reward to generate the same excitement. Maintaining that approach requires staff able to source desirable products quickly and a budget flexible enough to move between desserts, merchandise and other incentives.

The Red Cross has said it plans to continue a variety of giveaway promotions. Its strategy treats popular products as a way to reach teenagers and adults in their twenties, rather than relying on one cookie to remain fashionable indefinitely.

A Sugary Reward and a Longer Medical Task

The dessert brings a health concern of its own. A single Dubai-style cookie can contain up to 500 calories, and medical warnings have accompanied its popularity.

Korea University Guro Hospital warned that the dessert can "immediately disrupt the body's metabolic balance" and "threaten the overall health... beyond simple weight gain." The warning adds tension to the use of a rich, sugary food as a reward for an act that supports public health.

The Red Cross faces an immediate need to attract donors while choosing rewards people value. The cookie's appeal helps explain its use during a shortage, even as its calorie content raises concerns about the health message attached to the promotion.

South Korea's falling birth rate and aging population require a response extending beyond giveaways. The measures discussed alongside the campaign include education, making donation easier and encouraging young people to give regularly. Each addresses a different part of the problem: understanding the need, finding the time and access to donate, and returning after the first visit.

The January 16 turnout shows how consumer trends can help a medical organization gain attention and increase participation quickly. The combination of cookies and K-pop collectibles also shows why communicating with younger donors involves understanding the interests that already draw them together.

The Red Cross hopes that people who arrive for a dessert or photo card will eventually return because they understand how their donations support patients. For now, the campaign provides an immediate increase in visits while the country works to maintain a dependable supply from a smaller pool of donors.

Key Points

• Eight Seoul centers attracted 668 blood donors on January 16, 2026, during a Dubai-style cookie giveaway, up 116 percent from the previous Friday.
• The Korean Red Cross is also offering ENHYPEN photo cards at selected centers to attract younger donors.
• Annual donor numbers fell 25.4 percent over a decade, from nearly 1.7 million in 2014 to approximately 1.26 million in 2024.
• Blood reserves met the adequate level on 248 days in 2025, leaving stocks below the target for roughly one-third of the year.
• Red blood cells can be stored for up to 42 days and platelets for five to seven days, making regular donations essential.
• The promotions have increased attendance, while their lasting effect depends on whether newcomers become repeat donors.
• Cookie costs, rising ingredient prices and changing consumer tastes complicate the Red Cross plan to continue varied giveaways.