Kuai Kuai culture

A bag of Kuai Kuai is next to a desktop PC. Some people believes that if the snack is placed around the server, it will bless the machine to run smoothly.

The Kuai Kuai cultureis a phenomenon in Taiwan to put the brand snack "Kuai Kuai" next to machines.The people who do this believe that as the name of the snack "Kuai Kuai" stands for "obedient" or "well-behaved", so it will make the device functions properly. The Kuai Kuai should not be expired, and the bags should only be the green ones, if other flavors such as yellow or red bags may even leads to counter effects. And no matter how hungry you are, you shall not open the snack to consume, or the device may go wrong. Influenced by the culture, Kuai Kuai is the only food that one may bring into a server room, and is widely placed on the top or inside of factory production lines, computer mainframes, computer rooms, intensive care centers, data centers, ATMs, police stations, ticket booths, and satellite models.

Culture influence

Kuai Kuai Company Limited is established in 1968. The company produces mainly cookies and puff corn snacks. Kuai Kuai is also the snack with the same name as the company. It is a puff corn product. It was as documented as early as 2008, the idea of "put Kuai Kuai next to a device to bless the equipment works properly". The idea is not only the informal convention of the information industry in Taiwan, but it also expands to other fields of industries. Kuai Kuai is now placed next to the devices of server rooms, ATMs, ticket booths, control systems, toll booth. Also it was seen in places such as a computer center, a social affairs bureau, an architecture of sustainability, a police station, a hospital, a office of nursing, Center of domestic violence and sexual assault prevention, a cutting room, a theater, household registration offices and examination hall for national tests. It is also the rare cases of food that one can bring to a computer room.

The culture is seen by some people as superstition, but some others believe it whole-heartedly. "I write my name (on the bag) and I am not fooling around.", the movie director Chi Po-lin once even stated. However, the vice professor of Taipei City University of Science and Technology Jiang Tsan-Teng(江燦騰) points out the stable system from Kuai Kuai may be a coincidence, the snack is only a placebo for the staff.

Convention

File:三包不同口味的乖乖.jpg

Three different flavors of Kuai Kuai, from the left to the right are five spiced (yellow), coconut milk (green), and chocolate (red). It is said that only the green one that is "effective".

擺放乖乖零食有一定的講究，乖乖的外包裝一定得是綠色（奶油椰子口味），不能是黃色或紅色，因為機器順利運轉時的燈號通常是綠色，而當機械亮黃燈和紅燈時則代表故障或有異常，例如在2017年5月開始申報綜合所得稅時，Ministry of Finance試圖透過擺放乖乖來挽救因為流量過大而運作緩慢的作業系統，但卻因為買了黃色包裝的乖乖而遭到網友批評，國民黨立委盧秀燕也在審查草案時呼籲財政部要注意民間習俗，不要搞錯了包裝的顏色。而乖乖公司則另有一套理論：綠色包裝能祈求電子設備和機房運行無礙，黃色包裝象徵錢財，受金融業和銀行業歡迎，紅色包裝則表示愛情，因此會在情人節或母親節時推出限量商品。

除了需注意顏色，也要注意保存期限，不能擺放過期的乖乖，一旦過期必須馬上更新，也要注意包裝是否有破損，並避免被蟑螂或老鼠吃掉。這些乖乖零食絕不能吃掉或任意更換，時有因為吃掉乖乖而發生設備異常或意外事故的事件登上新聞。

Partnerships

五香乖乖造句包放在輸送帶上，祈望降低輸送帶故障率並增加產能，但黃色包裝的乖乖可能會有反效果。

由於擺放乖乖的位置多與機械設備有關，讓乖乖被視為科技業供應鏈的一環。2016年時，高雄美濃地震導致台積電在南部科學工業園區的生產線受損，台積電在調度工程師修復生產線後訂製了聯名乖乖分送給員工，該款特製的乖乖印有「FAB14A 222K限定」字樣和南科14A廠的吉祥物黑面琵鷺，還曾在網路上出現每包新臺幣500元的拍賣價，而這也使得其他的科技公司前來與乖乖公司合作，要求客製聯名款產品，例如與台灣微軟合作推出聯名零食「孔雀香酥脆」餅乾；2017年3月，桃園國際機場捷運通車時，機捷特製了六萬包印有「乖乖搭捷運，省時又快捷」的綠色包裝乖乖送給民眾；彰化銀行則與乖乖公司合作推出金色包裝的五香乖乖。

2017年6月，德國遊樂園歐洲樂園Template:Link-en宣布飛行劇院「VOLETARIUM」即將開幕的記者會上，乖乖零食被放在記者會的舞台中央，歐洲樂園特別介紹這包乖乖，說明「這是臺灣特別的傳統」，負責飛行劇院的智崴資訊則表示所有設在臺灣海外的遊戲設備都會擺放乖乖，將乖乖放在主機旁的行為也被載明於合約之中。當首個由臺灣自主研發的光學遙測衛星福爾摩沙衛星五號發射前，臺灣國家實驗研究院的工作團隊將乖乖圍繞著衛星模型擺放，以祈衛星能順利升空。而乖乖公司也與國家太空中心合作，推出包裝上印有「太空浩瀚無垠，乖乖盡收眼底」的乖乖。