The Holiday Creep

A lot of people, including myself, are really getting sick of the holiday creep.  Now, I’m not talking about the strange dude, who is always alone and never makes eye contact, that you see roaming the mall once a year in cut off jean shorts who seems to be stalking you  --  I’m talking about the start of the holiday shopping season that gets earlier and earlier each year.

Photo taken in September of a Holiday Display

I was shopping for a birthday present in early September, saw this holiday display, and was kind of horrified.  When I was a kid, I remember as fall would approach the Halloween merchandise would be displayed; Halloween would arrive and the Thanksgiving décor would make an appearance; and then Christmas displays would appear as Thanksgiving would draw closer.   Personally, I was fine with this progression because I absolutely loved unique feelings that each of those holidays brought. Now it seems that Halloween and Thanksgiving have been all but forgotten and Christmas is something I’ve grown to dread rather than anticipate.

I understand that the Christmas season is important for most retailers.  They have shareholders to please and payroll to meet. Plus it’s not difficult to see that some retailers are simply in trouble (J.C. Penny, Kmart/Sears, and Aeropostale come to mind right now).  But there has to be a more creative way to try to boost sales rather than extending the Christmas shopping season.

It seems to bet getting to the point that in my lifetime I will see one, year long, holiday shopping season. (Side thought: maybe that’s what Christmas Tree Shops was aiming for).  It’s easy to see how this could evolve too:

Holiday Back To School
One day the holiday season displays will be coupled with Back To School.  I could imagine the marketing campaigns surrounding that.   They’d probably simply bundle the two together and have notebooks and pens next to wrapping paper and bows.

Christmas in July
This idea is already in place, but it would take on a whole new meaning.  I suppose we could think of it as a half-Christmas. You know kind of like a half birthday, which (as a Catholic) seems somewhat fitting.  “Christmas in July. Get your half-Christmas stuff today!”

Holiday Easter
Easter is already a holiday, but I don’t think it has the broad shopping appeal as Christmas.  I think there’s only so many eggs that you can buy for someone before they’re used as rotten projectiles on Mischief Night (ya … think about eggs rotting for 6 months).  Maybe with the general worry about obesity something may happen, like the government stepping in and declaring one sugary candy or chocolate holiday every 6 months … one for Valentines day, one for Halloween. As a result, Easter would have to be re-purposed.  There’s such synergy here I could see that before long some marketer will simply tie it together to try to lift sales:  “He has just risen, but don’t wait, get your shopping done now before he’s born again!”

Holiday Valentines Day
Here, I could see simply tying love with the love for Christmas shopping. Christmas trees adorned with engagement rings.  After all, getting engage is special.  Getting engaged at Christmas time is even more special. So, just make Valentines day a little more special ... by adding a Christmas Tree.

The Yearlong Christmas
Finally, stores would just have yearlong Holiday time sales rationalizing, “if Q4 is our best quarter because of the holidays, then why don’t we just leave the holiday stuff displayed and just celebrate the holidays all year long. This way every quarter could be like Q4.” Of course someone at the other end of the conference table would be like “Beautiful! I love that idea! Run with it!” Stores would then just have a holiday department. It wouldn’t be called ‘seasonal’ anymore and there wouldn’t be any lawn and garden supplies stocked there in the off season … it would need to be called “The Holiday Department.”

I have nothing against the holidays (both religious and secular aspects). I also have no problems with merchants making money either.  Where I do have the problem is trying to over-exploit the emotional ties to the end of year holiday in order to do so.  If stores need to have a sale to move merchandise, then have a sale.  I just hope that eventually retailers stop trying to make it special by making the Holiday shopping season earlier and earlier.  I am more inclined to not shop somewhere if the Christmas time stuff is out before Halloween.   Personally, I don’t see it changing though I really  hope I am wrong.

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Good, Better, Best – A Christmas Story

Loosely, building on an idea that I wrote last year, "Christmas – What is "Good?", I got to thinking of this Good, Better, Best hierarchy.

Ah ... Good, Better, Best: the clichéd adjectives used just about everywhere.  It seems, to me anyway, that good implies the status quo; potentially average or, worse, below average.  Better is higher in the pecking order so that’s like a silver medal to that of the bronze "good".  Finally, who wouldn’t want to be associated with Best.  Best just blows everything else away.  It’s the gold medal … and I think that’s why Apple never made a product anything less than the best (so they say).

When it comes down to getting presents from Santa one has to be good.  So I would imagine that as long as you don’t fall into the bad category you’re probably guaranteed a pair of socks and maybe a sweater.  But if you fall into the better or best categories … you may be cashing in.  Again, somehow that seems to be the case for Apple.

Let’s imagine that Nick isn’t a terrible person, but he’s a guy in his late 20s that doesn’t do the greatest things.  He’s still a child at heart and maybe (just maybe) still believes in Santa. So, let’s just imagine what that letter may look like:

Dear Santa, I know every year I ask you for presents, but my behavior seemed to have gotten worse over the past few years.  But I’ve done so much this past year to show that I deserve a Microsoft Surface with a blue touch cover keyboard. As you know, a couple of years ago I was not faithful to my wife and that probably led to not getting the iPad with the retina display that I really wanted. But this year, I’ve been better. I only cheated on her a total of 6 times with only 3 other women; compared to the 17 times and the 16 other women from the previous year.  That shows improvement! I have also been improving on my relations with the elderly.  I know I’ve been harsh to them, especially when they’ve been crossing the parking lot at Target and I blare on the horn and yell swear words at them.  While I’m still a ways from helping them cross the street, I’ve show a tremendous restraint and now only beep the horn at them. See, I’ve done better and certainly hope to have a Surface in my stocking on Christmas Morning. Very truly yours, Nick

While, Nick certainly isn’t a saint, he is doing better.  If we go by the Good, Better, Best hierarchy; then since he’s doing better than the previous year he falls into the second category thereby bypassing the good category.   I mean … he’s doing “better” … it’s not “best” but it certainly supersedes “good”.  Then again, if this is the “best” possible behavior he can deliver, then he certainly must be worthy of at least a Google Nexus 7.

I’ve pondered this fictitious scenario a few times and bounced it off of a few people.  Personally, I think the improvement warrants presents, but I may be alone in this one.

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Christmas - What is "Good"?

It's Christmas time again. While doing my holiday shopping I've been finding myself eavesdropping on the conversations around me.  It's not like I've been purposefully doing it; I just find it very difficult to not listen when you're elbow to elbow in the checkout line of Toys "R" Us. 

I've noticed parents telling their kids that Santa will bring them presents if they are "good."  I don't disagree with this idea. After all, how long do we have to manipulate the children into eating their vegetables and being quiet during a movie with the promises of a fictitious being bringing presents.

So ... what exactly is "good" ?

I know this isn't a new thought. Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote about this topic in his book "How Good Do We Have To Be."  But that related to something more profound and spiritual. I'm talkin' about being commercially "good" and how it relates to the promise of presents from a bearded fat guy.  So I have to wonder …

The Santa defined "good" seems be an idea defined and perpetuated by parents. Consequently, "good" seems to have a mercurial quality.  For the most part it seems to mean being well-behaved and brushing your teeth every night.   Though, some parents add the responsibility of having A's on your report cards.  But what if some kids (like me back in the day) were just incapable of earning an A. Sure she’s smarter, but would that make my sister more "good" than me?  … And is the quality of my presents reflected in this parental “good” scale?  It would kind of suck that this is the best possible “good” I can deliver and I get a new sweater instead of that Atari 2600 game I wanted.

What if children are rated on an individual good scale rather than one big measurement system.   I may not be able to deliver more than straight B’s on my report card, but I could get tremendous amounts of praise during piano recitals. I would imagine those kind of accomplishments should be factored in.

On the other end of the scale, what if this is a family of super villains.  Consider that Harley Quinn and The Joker had a little super villain kids.   One of the kids hatches a plan that wounds one of the little Batkids (not critically though – just a skinned knee) on the Gotham City Public School playground.  After getting called into the principal’s office the Batkid is the one who gets suspended.  You would have to think that Harley and Joker would think good of their kid and tell them that Santa would be bringing them a Tyco Battery operated Joker Van or something.

This Christmas season I find myself reflecting upon past Christmases and gifts that I’ve received over the years.  For the most part, I think I was good … Santa never seemed to disappoint. I may not have been the ideal kid; and Santa probably should’ve considered me bad some years.   As Christmas day draws closer perhaps “good” doesn’t refer to how well-behaved one is, but maybe … just maybe … how “good” the economy is.

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