by Rin Yeo
Today’s November 11 – and if you are e-shopping junkie, chances are you would now be hooked onto the Internet making your purchases on the world’s largest e-commerce site now. Yet, other than that, November 11 has quite a few other elements to it too. From being celebrated as Singles Day with food products, to Remembrance Day/Poppy Day, here are some facts about today that you probably didn’t know about.
Customers’ Appreciation Day
Pocky, along with Pretz, are iconic stick-shaped snacked made by the Japanese manufacturer Glico. Given that these snacks are long and thing like the number 1, each year on 11/11 the company would hold a customers appreciation day, filled with events and promotions for just one day only to thanks their fans.
Pepero Day
Observed in South Korea as a day similar to Valentine’s Day, the Pepero Day was created by Lotte, the manufacturer for the snack Pepero (which resembles Pocky/Pretz). The initial idea was to exchange the snacks with each other in hopes of becoming skinner and taller, but these days it is given to friends and families as a token of appreciation/affection.
Singles Day
Celebrated in China as Singles Day (due to the fact that there are 4 lonely 1s), this day isn’t solely about singles feeling sorry for themselves, but rather a day filled with deals and discounts on e-commerce. With extreme deals online, similar to that of the US’s Black Friday, sales in 2014 saw up to USD$9.3billion sales being generated in 24hours alone!
Remembrance Day/Poppy Day
Evolved from Armistice Day, Remembrance Day/Poppy Day is observed in Commonwealth of Nations member states to remember the fallen who have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. Non-Commonwealth countries have also marked this day for remembrance as World War 1 ended on this date in 1918.
