Packing containers of Pepero, a biscuit-stick snack lined in chocolate, are stacked at a grocery store in Seoul’s Yongsan District, Sunday, a few week forward of Pepero Day, which yearly falls on Nov. 11. Yonhap
Occasion initially began by some teenage women went nationwide with retailers’ promotion
By Lee Hae-rin
The month of November right here sometimes sees a spike within the gross sales of Pepero, a biscuit-stick snack lined in chocolate, as “Pepero Day,” Nov. 11, approaches.
This native celebration is sort of a lighthearted model of Valentine’s Day — which Koreans additionally have a good time. Koreans alternate Pepero snacks with mates, lovers, co-workers and members of the family.
Nevertheless, some additionally criticized the observe, saying that Pepero Day is a mere tactic created by sure confectionery firms and retail industries.
Is the widespread declare that Pepero Day was created by the trade actually true?
The primary media document of Pepero Day will be present in an article printed in November 1996.
The article says that round this time, the playful custom of calling Nov. 11 Pepero Day yearly was well-liked amongst teenage women in North Gyeongsang Province.
On Nov. 11, when the quantity “1” is repeated 4 occasions, folks exchanged Pepero items and wished one another to be “slim and thin like Pepero snacks.”
Based mostly on this phenomenon, Lotte Wellfood, previously Lotte Confectionery, which manufactures Pepero, started to make use of the identify Pepero Day on Nov. 11 of the next 12 months, distributing Pepero without cost in huge cities.
“It was a very long time in the past, so there isn’t a knowledge left (concerning the background of the custom),” a Lotte Wellfood official stated, confirming, “It isn’t a tradition created on the firm stage.”
Within the mid-Nineteen Nineties, the corporate’s gross sales workers in South Gyeongsang Province discovered it unusual that Pepero gross sales elevated each November, in order that they reported it to the headquarters. Lotte then later started to make use of the time period Pepero Day.
Though the corporate’s large advertising and marketing popularized the custom, making it unfold and go viral nationwide, Pepero Day is a singular anniversary created by shoppers and developed by the confectionery and retail trade, in accordance with trade insiders.
“Different snack-related anniversaries equivalent to Valentine’s Day are restricted to lovers, however Pepero Day was comparatively simple to determine due to its wide selection of which means and goal age teams,” the official defined.
Inspired by the success of Pepero Day, the confectionery and distribution trade launched many “Day” gimmicks and promotions.
For example, “triangle gimbap day” was briefly noticed on March 3, and “whale rice day” was tried on Dec. 12, in a bit to advertise gross sales of “whale rice” biscuits, as a result of the form of Dec. 12 and the quantity 12 on the facet resembled a whale. However neither of the 2 got here to any success.
Pepero Day can also be noteworthy in that it’s a home anniversary that was later exported abroad.
In response to the Japan Anniversary Affiliation, Japan additionally celebrates Nov. 11 yearly as Pocky and Pretz Day.
Ezaki Glico designated Nov. 11 as “Pocky and Pretz Day” and acquired a certification from the Japan Anniversary Affiliation in 1999.
In the meantime, Korea noticed the full-fledged advertising and marketing of Pepero in 1997 by Lotte Wellfood, making it a pacesetter within the celebration of the snack’s anniversary effectively forward of different markets.
A Pepero commercial is on show on an enormous LED at TSX Broadway in Occasions Sq., New York, on this undated picture. Lotte Wellfood is selling Pepero Day, which falls on Nov. 11 yearly in Korea, through digital commercial abroad from Oct. 21 to Nov. 11. Courtesy of Lotte Wellfood
This 12 months, the corporate seeks to advertise the native custom worldwide.
Lotte Wellfood has launched digital commercials on the large LED of the TSX Broadway constructing in Occasions Sq. in New York Metropolis, beginning Oct. 21 till this 12 months’s Pepero Day.
That is the second time the corporate put up a Pepero commercial in Occasions Sq..
Below the slogan “Present your love with Pepero,” the video options the Ok-pop group NewJeans, the model’s ambassador, making ready for Pepero Day.
The Pepero commercial was additionally launched in downtown Los Angeles, Korea City and Ho Chi Minh Metropolis, Vietnam, forward of Pepero Day.
Pepero is presently being exported to about 50 international locations, and throughout the first half of this 12 months, its export gross sales stood at 32.5 billion gained ($23.2 million), going forward of home gross sales for the primary time.
