Pepero Day

Friday, November 11th was Pepero Day. Don't worry, we didn't know what it meant at first either. We knew what Pepero was, but why there was a day dedicated to it, didn't make much sense. Koreans are proud people and they have days to celebrate all aspects of their culture. Pepero Day isn't necessarily Korean culture at its finest, but it is uniquely Korean. Let me introduce you to a box of Pepero.
It is a slender cookie dipped in chocolate. There's not much to it at all, but the kids freak out over it. You'd think you were giving them a million dollars by handing them a stick of Pepero. This is Jack eating his pepero. He won the Pepero Day photo contest for cutest boy. And below is Annie who captured the cutest girl. What is really behind Pepero Day is marketing and branding. Lotte is one of the biggest corporations in Korea and pepero is a product they created. What the masterminds behind Lotte did was pick a day, called it Pepero Day, and waited for hordes of consumers to buy their product. And buy they do. The reason November 11 was chosen is because the numerical version of the date looks like four pepero sticks in a row: 11 11. Oh, the clever marketing tactics of conglomerates with deep pockets who can't wait to find ways to keep filling those pockets. All day long, students were coming to school with grocery bags full of pepero, both ones they bought to hand out and others given to them by friends. We snagged quite a bit as well. Our favourite was the pepero box in the shape of a bowtie. Here is Jenn doing her impression of Hello Kitty.