It’s that time of the year again. For the next few months, people of all beliefs and backgrounds will gather to celebrate a number of different year-end holidays all over the world. However, here’s a unique November holiday you probably haven’t heard of: November 11th is Pocky Day in Japan.
What Is Pocky Day?
There are a number of famous Japanese snacks that have captured the attention and hearts of people around the world. For example, Kinoko no Yama and Takenoko no Sato have their earnest fans and defenders, not just in Japan, but around the world.
However, none comes close to the beloved breadstick dipped in chocolate, Pocky. For starters, it’s a snack that has its own holiday. (Yes, we know this is a clever bit of corporate marketing. But let’s have some fun with it, yeah?)
Pocky & Pretz Day (ポッキー＆プリッツの) is an unofficial commercial Japanese holiday that takes place every November 11. Why this date? Just look at the numbers (11/11)! Don’t all those ones remind you of a certain Japanese snack?
However, contrary to what one might believe, this trend did not begin in Japan.
The history of Pocky
Pocky’s origins go back to 1963, when Ezaki Glico Food Corporation released its predecessor, Pretz. A simple breadstick, Glico decided to spice up the original recipe by adding some chocolate to it.
In 1966, Glico created Pocky, which it marketed as “the world’s first-ever stick-shaped chocolate confectionery” (世界で初めての棒状チョコレート菓子). The candy introduced the trademark “handle” – a portion of the stick not covered in chocolate. This made it easier to eat without getting your hands smeared in chocolate. (That’s pretty key now, given the increasingly punishing Japanese summers. Thanks, climate change.)
In case you’re wondering, the product’s name comes from the Japanese onomatopoeia word, ‘pokkin’ (ポッキン), the sound of snapping a stick in half.
Over the next several decades, Glico took the snack and some of its other products international. It came to Thailand in 1972 and France in 1980. 1995 saw the introduction of a business unit in Shanghai.
The origins of Pocky Day
Pocky quickly grew in popularity. However, it wasn’t only their fans who took notice. Rival company Lotte, a Korean snack company, decided to hop on the bandwagon with their own similar product, Pepero. Like its rival, Pepero also took off in its own home country. It wasn’t long before the youth in Korea started their own snack-based trends, one of which included exchanging Pepero with friends on November 11.
Lotte quickly caught on and began to promote November 11th as Pepero Day, a move which did more than simply irritate Pocky’s original creators at Glico. Not wanting to be outdone by their rivals, Glico followed suit and in 1999, started promoting November 11th as Pocky Day in Japan. Since then, the Japan Anniversary Association (日本記念日協会) even went on to recognize Pocky & Pretz Day as an official memorial day.
Pocky campaigns
Glico went above and beyond to establish November 11th as the day to celebrate the snack. They aired commercials, held marketing campaigns, and even got a dance group of famous Japanese pop stars, The Sharehappi, to create a Pocky Dance. The dance went viral and even led to a contest starring The Sharehappi on Nico Nico Douga in 2015.
Glico also has various other campaigns throughout the year designed to push more chocolate sticks onto the masses. In 2024, the company launched a “Welcome Pocky” (ようこそポッキー) campaign featuring various “welcome” messages. The idea was to make the snack a nice gift to welcome someone to a new school, workplace, etc. Various boxes had slogans welcoming new teachers, students, co-workers, and even highly-detailed messages for new members of school sports teams.
A world record-setting snack
As if songs and dances weren’t enough, Glico launched a campaign in 2012 aiming to set a world record for the most mentions of a brand name on Twitter within a 24-hours period. With 1,843,733 mentions that day, Glico reached its goal, leading to certification in the Guinness World Records. They went on to break their own record the following year with 3,710,044 mentions.
As if one world record alone wasn’t enough, Glico actually has several other records. In 2014, Glico achieved another world record with the Largest Online Photo Montage of Cookies/Biscuits after holding a “World Challenge” inviting fans from all over the world to submit Pocky selfies.
In 2020, Guinness World Records also recognized the snack as “the world’s best-selling chocolate-coated biscuit“. If Glico’s goal was to take back the biscuit’s position as the top snack stick worthy of the 11/11 holiday, I think it’s safe to say they achieved their goal.
How to celebrate Pocky Day
So how does one celebrate a holiday dedicated to a chocolate covered biscuit? Aside from the obvious, which is buying a bunch and eating them yourself, there are a number of creative ways people have come up with. You can watch Pocky commercials, upload Pocky photos on social media, or gather your friends for a Pocky party.
Then, learn the Pocky dance and show off your moves on the dance floor!
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Sources
「Pocky」 が世界売上 No.１(※)として ギネス世界記録™に２年連続で認定(※)されました 世界売上No.１を記念して、世界のポッキーが楽しめる施策も実施！Glico
Pocky’s History. Official Pocky Web site
「ポッキー」世界で最も売れたチョコのビスケットに…ギネス認定. Yomiuri Shimbun
春の新しい出会いを「ポッキー」が応援！「Welcome Pocky」キャンペーンがスタート！さまざまな「ようこそ」が書かれた限定デザインパッケージを3月26日より発売～ハナコの３人が春の出会いをコミカルに熱演するWEBムービーも公開～ Glico Press Release
