Holiday Marketing

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Today is October 20th. My husband and I went shopping today. As is our way we grabbed our carts and went our separate ways. I headed over to grab dog food and what caught my eye? Not Halloween decorations. Not Thanksgiving decorations. Wait for it… Yes! That’s right! Christmas decorations! It is not even Halloween yet. I took a photo to prove it to you, but my Droid failed me again. Big sigh… That’s a story for another day.

I used to think how awful it was to see Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving. But Christmas before Halloween is just ridiculous. I understand how marketing works, really I do. But it seems to me that there should be limits on when you can begin to market for upcoming holidays. Seeing Christmas on display today just rubbed me the wrong way.

Am I the only one who feels this way? It occurs to me that if you start Christmas in October there may be no ‘ho ho ho’ joy left by the time the event actually arrives. It will be all ‘ho hum’. You will have had three months of Christmas and that’s plenty of time to develop an ambivalent attitude toward the holiday.

Are they starting their marketing in October in hopes that they make a profit this year? That is the only reason I can think of for doing such a thing. I always thought that ‘Black Friday’ was when the retailers went wild trying to get ahead with the seasonal profits. At least that happens AFTER Thanksgiving and not before Halloween. BTW – unless I can shop online for those Black Friday specials I will not be participating. I went out just once with my sister and I will never do it again. You experience people at their worst. I avoid going out on that shopping day like you would avoid the plague.

While I understand the ‘why’ of marketing the seasonal stuff as soon as you can get away with it, I still have an attitude about shopping for Christmas decorations before Halloween. Truth be told I buy all my stuff right after Christmas when it’s all on clearance. Now that’s being a smart consumer.

So what do you think? Are you pro marketing Christmas before Halloween? Will you be buying Christmas decorations before Halloween?

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Comments (8 )

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  1. JeriWB says:

    I couldn't agree with your more! The early marketing for the holidays just takes the magic of the season away. What I really loathe is when Christmas music starts to play before Thanksgiving. As for Black Friday, that's definitely a stay-home day for me. Cyber-Monday is more my speed 😉

    • Geek Girl says:

      Christmas music before Thanksgiving… agree with you. Cyber Monday is definitely for me. All the good deals without the crowds.

  2. Dan Meyers says:

    I think retailers are desperate for any extra sales at this point. Do you think we'll ever get to a point where we have Christmas sales year round?? 🙂

  3. Geek Girl says:

    I really hope we don't end up with Christmas year round, but I can see that it could happen. It just seems to me that it may be defeating the purpose of trying to get more sales. Talk about Christmas ho hum… I can see an epidemic of that would be right around the corner.

  4. findingourwaynow says:

    I am so with you on this one. It's really annoying to see Christmas out in September, in my case. I understand what the retailers are trying to do, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. On the other hand, I bought limited edition ornaments as it is my tradition for the family to ensure I was able to get them. Does that make a culprit in the whole Thing?

    • Geek Girl says:

      Maybe it will be like Dan says and we will have Christmas on sale year round. Of course then I may choose not to participate at all. Limited edition ornaments, eh? I understand that we have to have priorities. LOL

  5. namirusso says:

    You're absolutely right – I don't know anyone who's excited about Christmas in October, not even my kids. Why not just start with St. Paddy's day while we're at it? Ridiculous.

    • Geek Girl says:

      The whole holiday is going to turn to ho hum… even the kids won't find it special anymore. Not good…