Day 32: It's not a Dog, It's a Store!

You know, there are a handful of businesses in Korea that I think secretly own the country. There's Samsung, and Hyundai, and maybe even LG, but I think the most fashionable among them all is Lotte. This Korean conglomerate is, in large part, why Japanese tourists flock to Korea: Duty-Free. Well sure, I bet they come for other things, like all the Lotte Department Store campaigns with famous Korean celebrities (Dong Bang Shin Ki, Big Bang, Rain, Bae Young Joon, and that guy from GI Joe), but the sheer amount of things that Lotte does in terms of consumerism blows my mind away. Now when you think of Hyundai, you probably think of cars, but you should also think of ships. When you think of Samsung, you most likely think of technology and maybe even life insurance. But when you think of Lotte, what do you think of? Shopping. Oodles and oodles of shopping. There is also Lotte Hotel, Lotte Mart for grocery shopping, Lotteria for what some (albeit misinformed) people would say is tasty fast food, and, of course, Lotte World (Korea's equivalent to maybe a Disney Land or Bush Gardens). So, the moral of the story? Samsung shows you Korea on their TVs and cell phones. Hyundai gets you to Korea. And Lotte entertains you while you are here.