Pepero Day

Today, November 11th, is a holiday of sorts here in Korea, although it's hard to call something a holiday when it's corporate-sponsored. Today is Pepero Day, a truly unique day on which children exchange Pepero candies. "Pepero" is not a generic name for a type of food: it is a specific brand of snack produced by the Lotte company. And although Lotte claims the idea for the holiday wasn't theirs, there is hardly anyone who believes them. Not to mention that if it wasn't their idea, they should really make some changes to their marketing division.

Let me explain: November the 11th, or 11/11, is Pepero Day, because Pepero sticks look like 1's and 11/11 has four ones in it. The exchange of candies is somewhat along the lines of American Valentine's Day in that the people trading the candy are usually children or teenagers, and they give them to friends or romantic interests. In fact, the Lotte company makes over half their Pepero sales just in the month of November. Even though Lotte claims they did not create the holiday, they have certainly stepped up to provide for it, creating a variety of Pepero baskets and goody bags specifically for the 11th. The holiday is mostly contained to the youth population, although it never hurts as a teacher to pass out some extra goodies to the kids.

Happy Pepero Day!