Taiwanese registry offices have been flooded by people asking to change their name to ‘Salmon’ in response to a promotional campaign by a sushi restaurant chain. Officials have asked the public not to waste government resources.
The craze, dubbed ‘salmon chaos’ by the local media, was prompted by the Japanese chain Akindo Sushiro. As part of the two-day promotion, which ended on Thursday, anyone whose name included ‘Gui Yu’ – the Chinese characters for ‘salmon’ – could enjoy a free all-you-can-eat meal with five friends, while those whose name contained at least one character would get a hefty discount.
Lovers of free sushi flooded the country’s registry offices, with some 100 people changing their name after the promotion was announced, the Focus Taiwan news website reported, citing officials.
The Taipei Times quoted the restaurant chain as saying that 28 customers had claimed free meals as of 3pm on Wednesday, and at least 1,000 had participated in the promotion.
The government responded by cautioning citizens that, under the current law, they were allowed to change their name up to three times in their lifetime.
“This kind of name-change not only wastes time but causes unnecessary paperwork,” said Deputy Interior Minister Chen Tsung-yen, as cited by AFP.
“I hope everyone can be more rational about it,” he added, urging the public to “cherish administrative resources.”
Taiwanese media reported that state officials had managed to dissuade some people from changing their name while chasing free seafood. However, others were persistent, and said they planned to change their name to ‘Salmon’ and then change it back after the promotion ended.
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