Dear Advertising Executives/Wal-Mart/Costco, et al,
I have a bone to pick with all of you...stop your Christmas advertising and put away all of your Christmas decorations! It is NOT the day after Thanksgiving yet, the official start of the Christmas season. Stop it! It is driving me mad.
When did it become okay to put out Christmas items in August?...I'm talking to you Costco. Really, you think it is okay shove Christmas down our throats before Labor Day? You can still wear white when you put out your Christmas items this year...we hadn't even had our end of summer BBQ. Yet, somehow when I walked into Costo, it was as if by magic, three months had elapsed and boom...Christmas.
And Wal-Mart, shame on you! Not only do you have Christmas items out as of mid September (and putting away all of your Halloween costumes) but you have now started playing Christmas music. Come on! Give us all a break...I need the three to four week break after Halloween to get ready for Thanksgiving. I like Thanskgiving. I need time to think about menus, where I want to spend it, figure out if I'm going to eat a turkey sandwhich for breakfast the next morning while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I can't figure all of these important things out if I'm constantly reminded that Christmas is only 48 days away.
I saw 5 Christmas commercials last night. It is only Nov 6th! Christmas commercials...you know the ones where they are playing Christmas Caroles in the background and Christmas trees abound, and happy families are spending time with each other. Stop pressuring me! I know that I will shop for my loved ones but I want to get over the hump of Thanksgiving first. I want to lay around on Thanksgiving night with a round, full tummy contemplating if I will be one of the crazy people up at 4 am to do black Friday shopping. I dont' want to start my shopping until the day after Thanskgiving. I know that whatever store you are advertising for is going to have a sale. I know that your store has items that can be used as Christmas gifts...you are a store after all. I can buy things there. You do not have to shove it down my throat starting November 1st. I have not forgotten that stores sell things. And I certainly have not forgotten that all stores have black Friday sales.
But most of all, ladies and gentlemen of the consumer advertising world, please realize that the Christmas season is more than just shopping. It is about love, kindness, family and friends. It is about taking a step back and being greatful for what we have, not for what we want. So I say to you corporate exectuives that have made it your store policy to shove Christmas in our faces starting in August...grow some cahonies, buck the trend you have your competitors have started and go back to tradition: do your advertising on the day after Thanksgiving, stress us out then...not now!
2 comments:
Oh how I love you! Please send that out to all retail establishments!!!
Well, I was kind of excited to see decorations in Costco early this year....but ONLY because Mother Nature decided she had had enough and went on vacation. It was freaking 80 degrees here until, I don't know, LAST WEEK. Those Christmas decorations were the only thing pulling me through. BUT, it is quite annoying to skip completely over Halloween and go straight to Christmas. I think this was the first ever year I saw Halloween, Thanksgiving AND Christmas decorations out all at the same time. Retailers must really be hurtin' this year. It's all a sign of the times.
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