The promotional material of "watermelon house"

A real estate developer in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, launched an unusual marketing strategy, allowing home buyers to pay for their homes using watermelon at a rate of 20 yuan per kilogram.

A representative of the company said on Tuesday that the bizarre promotional event has been suspended after being ordered by the headquarters. "We were told to delete all promotional posters on the social media platforms," said the representative, noting that they may design other types of promotional activities. 

A poster for the promotional event starting from June 28 to July 15, reads tht the property developer would allow home buyers to make a maximum payment of 5,000 kilograms of watermelon, valued at 100,000 yuan, noting the purpose of the promotion is to support local watermelon farmers. 

Real estate developers in Chinese third- and fourth-tier cities have launched various promotional campaigns recently, including encouraging home buyers to pay part of their down payment with wheat and garlic, in a bid to attract farmers to purchase newly built homes to offload excess housing inventory.

Global Times