Why Do Koreans Give Pepero on November 11?
Walk into a Korean convenience store in early November and you’ll find red boxes piled up by the door. There are bundles tied with ribbon, gift sets with stuffed toys attached, even boxes as tall as a child. Every one of them holds the same thin chocolate-dipped stick: Pepero.
A visitor might wonder what holiday this is. The answer is simple. November 11 is Pepero Day. Written as numbers, the date is 11/11, which looks like four sticks standing in a row.
What is Pepero Day?
Pepero is a stick-shaped snack launched by Lotte in 1983: a thin biscuit covered in chocolate. Its name is a play on ppae-ppae, a Korean word for “skinny.”
On Pepero Day, friends, couples, family members, and coworkers give each other Pepero. Unlike Valentine’s Day, which is mostly for couples, it’s a small gift you can hand to almost anyone without it meaning too much.
It’s also big business. Around 3.7 billion boxes of Pepero have been sold so far, and annual sales were expected to reach about 240 billion won in 2025. Pepero is now exported to about 50 countries, and Pepero Day ads have even run in New York’s Times Square.
It started with schoolgirls, not a company
Many Koreans dismiss Pepero Day as a marketing gimmick. But the story of how it began is a little different.
As the story goes, in 1994 a Lotte salesperson in the southeastern Gyeongnam region noticed something odd. Every year around November 11, shops kept asking for more Pepero. It turned out that schoolgirls in Busan had started exchanging Pepero on that day, wishing each other to grow “tall and slim, like a Pepero stick.”
The company followed the trend, not the other way around. Lotte began marketing Pepero Day in earnest only in the 2000s. So it started as a friendship ritual among teenagers, and marketing turned it into what it is today. Both are true.
Koreans love a “Day”
Pepero Day isn’t alone. Korea has a habit of turning dates into named days, especially the 14th of the month.
- February 14, Valentine’s Day: in Korea, it’s mostly women who give chocolate to men.
- March 14, White Day: a month later, men return the favor, usually with candy.
- April 14, Black Day: singles who received nothing on either day get together and eat jajangmyeon, black bean noodles. It’s less a sad day than a chance to laugh at yourself.
Maybe Koreans keep inventing these days because we like confirming our relationships with small gifts. And of course, companies know this about us very well.
Same day, different name: Farmers’ Day
Here’s a twist. November 11 is also Farmers’ Day, an official day set by the Korean government. The Chinese character for soil, 土, can be broken into 十 (ten) and 一 (one). So “soil month, soil day” becomes 11/11, a nod to farmers who live from the soil.
The agriculture ministry also calls it Garaetteok Day and encourages people to share garaetteok, long white sticks of rice cake. They look like the number 1 too, and they’re made from Korean-grown rice. Instead of a factory snack, the idea is to share something made from local rice.
So on the same day, a chocolate stick and a rice-cake stick compete for attention. That alone says something about Korea today.
What I think, as a Korean
A lot of people call Pepero Day a commercial gimmick. But for some people, it’s also a chance to work up a little courage.
Telling someone you like them out of the blue is hard. A box of Pepero, though, comes with a built-in excuse: “It’s just that kind of day.” The giver worries less about rejection, and the receiver doesn’t feel pressured. A cheap box of cookies ends up carrying a feeling that’s hard to say out loud.
If you’re in Korea on November 11
- You can buy Pepero at any convenience store. A regular box is an inexpensive, no-pressure gift.
- At work or school, people often hand out Pepero to everyone, not just to someone special. Don’t read too much into receiving one.
- If you’d rather skip the snack, a pack of garaetteok is a thoughtful alternative.
- Big gift sets often cost more than the boxes inside them. Check what you’re actually getting.
