Just look at 2018’s Mr Sunshine starring Lee Byung Hun. Even though it’s a period drama set in the early 1900s, Eun Sook managed to embed modern brands into the storyline. 

If you’ve watched the show, we’re sure you would’ve noticed a certain Bullanseo Bakery popping up several times throughout the drama. 

Yes, Bullanseo Bakery may be fictional, but did you know that it is actually product placement for Paris Baguette? 

What the Korean bakery chain, or rather Eun Sook did was create a retro version of Paris Baguette in order to match the authenticity of the show and not ruin the experience for the viewer.

Mr Sunshine’s product placements also included Dalkomm Coffee and Ginseng Chicken from Korean fast food restaurant Mom’s Touch.

With such seamless product placement, it’s unsurprising that brands flock to advertise their products on Eun Sook's shows. 

However, Eun Sook’s latest drama, The King: Eternal Monarch starring heartthrob Lee Minho, had so many blatant product placements, like this Cellreturn LED mask that Lee Minho tries on (pictured) that some netizens decided to rename the show “The King’s Shopping Platform”. 

But as they say, bad press is still better than no press. 

As fans gathered to air their grievances about the product placement on forums, it also led to a surge in online searches for the advertised products, which worked out very well for the show’s major sponsor, BBQ Chicken.

The scene where Minho's parallel universe-travelling King Lee Gon ate fried chicken (from BBQ Chicken, of course) for the first time was so widely-discussed, the brand sold over 550,000 sets of its fried chicken in a month. 

In addition to BBQ Chicken, another of the drama's major sponsors was Taiwanese bubble tea franchise The Alley. No surprises then which BBT joint the characters frequented most in the drama. (P/S: It helps that one of the characters runs a bubble tea shop too.) The Alley, which has branches around Asia, also saw a surge in popularity after The King went on air. 

Photos: Netflix