Not even on the Hebrew or Chinese calendars is it Christmas yet - or close. So why are we being assaulted by Christmas-related advertising, events and promotions? You can whine all you want about the bad economy, but that doesn’t excuse extending the holiday season by a month. True, no one is shocked anymore by Christmas ads appearing before Thanksgiving. They’re as unwelcome, yet predictable, as the Swine Flu. Starting them on November first, however is grotesquely commercial, brazenly offensive and an abuse of our patience. What’s more, it’s bound to be ineffective. If you start your Christmas-related advertising the first week of November, people will be sick of it by the second week. Especially if, in this bad economy, you’re too cheap to produce a lot of different ads. The media companies won’t complain, you’re all they need for a happy holiday, but it gives consumers six weeks to ignore your carefully crafted seasonal marketing. It may even provoke a backlash. I don’t advocate that, of course, but . . . if some early advertisers were boiled in their own puddings and had stakes of holly driven through their hearts - not all of them, just a representative sampling - I think it would send a message, a holiday message, to the rest: don’t be a ho, ho, ho.
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At least the radio stations haven't switched to the all-carol, all-the-time broadcasting yet. Retailers are in dire straits,but provided that the networks don't start airing Frosty the Snowman or assembling the Osmonds for a holiday special, I can cope.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the King Family, Mitch Miller and most of all, Burl Ives.
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