When I was a kid I would spend hours looking through the halloween catalogues trying to find the costume that I would be able to wear trick or treating! My mom would always ask me if I had found the perfect costume and I would always say the same thing, "I want to be a ninja!" Without the catalogues, I would have never found the type of costume I would want to wear. Putting halloween ads in the mail weeks before the actual day can help get people buying products over the course of the month.
Americans are no strangers to buying products for the holidays. For example, this year halloween sales alone are expected to reach 6.9 billion dollars. A whopping 2.9 billion of this will be spent on costumes for adults, and the rest will be used for everything else! Many farmers also rely on these seasonal sales for their income.
A farmer who sells pumpkins counts on selling their crops in time for halloween. Hundreds of thousands of pumpkins are sold every year to be used in seasonal festivities, such as Jack O' Lanterns!
The picture on the left is my girlfriend and I's attempt at making Jack O' Lanterns! The one on the left is mine and the one on the right is hers.
6.9 billion!!! damn... I am curious to know how much candy sales are during Halloween. And what the numbers are compared to Easter and Christmas?
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy to think that every year the Christmas items seem to come out earlier, and earlier, and earlier! I'm not sure if this is completely correct or not, but I thought I heard that TV advertisements might soon lean towards making specialized commercials to get people to buy more of what they buy lots of already. That might be something to look into if I remember right.
ReplyDeleteI hate this! Christmas things are coming out sooner and then stroy start to play hoilday music before halloween starts. I wish the people would stop playing into these hoildays and explore the real meaning of Christmas and Halloween. This is what I don't go black friday shopping! Since Thanksgiving's coming up you should talk about Black friday, I've never understood it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a well-timed article! I had just found this picture before reading your post, and this picture is very relevant. Look at how many expensive products Target tries to get kids to beg their parents for! http://imgur.com/a/xbTZv
ReplyDeleteHm so seasonal items, once guaranteed shelf, now depend on past tradition for sales.
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't for good marketing and getting people to buy into old traditions do you think we would still be so enthused to still celebrate the holidays? What kind of memories do you think you would have if you or your parents didn't buy into the hype? So I guess I can appreciate the balance it creates in society. Maybe a post option for you would be more on its positive effects on us all.
ReplyDelete