Halloween Weekend 2015 has just come to a close and if you live in a college town, you’ve probably taken part (or at least seen) a crazy amount of partying going in the past few days. This however, is not a new phenomenon in the grand scheme of university life in the United States, nor will it die out any time soon.
However, a trend that has existed since the mid-1980s and sincerely needs to be put to rest is corporate and cultural America’s obsession with holidays and their associated sales. What’s known as the “Christmas Creep” is a marketing scheme based around holiday dates which sets a specific holiday season to occur after each major holiday in an effort to incentivize spending and acclimatize shoppers into doing just that. While the term originally pertained to the Christmas season, or rather the “Winter Holiday” season if we’re being inclusive here, and its penchant for beginning roughly around the start of November rather than the traditional twelve days of Christmas, the term has slowly begun to incorporate nearly every major holiday’s sudden arrival and disappearance within the past 30 or so years.
Consider this for a minute: Halloween has just passed us by, but somehow at supermarkets, drugstores and major retailers, it’s suddenly Christmastime, even though it’s around the first week of November. Now I have to ask all of you readers this--when did November 2nd become the new birthday of Christ and what in God’s name happened to Thanksgiving?
You as a consumer may not care that businesses simply want to generate holiday based revenue by “fast-forwarding” their sales schedules into the next holiday, but sincerely, it feels like a lot of businesses are simply missing the point. Not even considering the religious and cultural connotations of these holidays, there seems to be something so strange about fundamentally slamming into the next holiday or skipping one altogether in favor of one in which it’s okay to spend money. I understand that certain holidays just aren’t that fun for some people, but considering that most major holidays are somewhat important to American culture, it just does not seem quite right to be doing this.
From an inside source at the New Paltz Starbucks, (he chooses to remain anonymous), there will be a soft launch of all holiday beverages on November 1st. By “holiday”, Starbucks essentially means Christmastime drinks: eggnog lattes, caramel brulee, chestnut praline, peppermint mochas, the list goes on. While Thanksgiving could be folded into Christmas, as it really is not a gift-giving or monetarily based holiday, the complete and total ignorance of the American tradition is pretty telling.
Soon, Valentine’s Day will encompass all of January and February, St. Patrick’s Day will overtake March, and Christmas will be from July to December. Preaching about this problem will not make the difference that is necessary; instead speak with your wallets this holiday season, folks.
