{"id":250,"date":"2017-12-18T15:44:33","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T15:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2017\/12\/18\/20171218commercialization-of-christmas-continues-to-rise-while-traditions-fall\/"},"modified":"2020-09-05T19:49:23","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T19:49:23","slug":"20171218commercialization-of-christmas-continues-to-rise-while-traditions-fall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2017\/12\/18\/20171218commercialization-of-christmas-continues-to-rise-while-traditions-fall\/","title":{"rendered":"Commercialization of Christmas continues to rise while traditions fall"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lindsay Pytel<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Pristine wrapping paper rolls, funny singing and dancing elves, Santa Claus blow-up lawn decorations, all displayed on shelves in your local department stores \u2026 and all of this has been up since the day after Halloween.<\/p>\n

It seems like each year we get into the Christmas spirit earlier and earlier. That\u2019s right, the Christmas season is upon us once again and for most Americans it\u2019s time to find the perfect gifts for friends and family. American spending during the Christmas season has continued to increase for the past ten years, according to recent data.<\/p>\n

Since 2008, retail spending in the Christmas season has increased from $501.50 billion to $655.80 billion. Spending in 2017 is projected to rise 3 to 4 percent with overall sales ranging from $678.80 billion to $682 billion, according to the National Retail Federation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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The commercialization of Christmas is nothing new, but the continued increase in sales has left many wondering if we\u2019ve gone too far. Most Connecticut residents  say they certainly think the holiday has become too commercialized. In fact, 72 percent of local residents said they felt this way out of 95 respondents in an online survey conducted by HQ Press.<\/p>\n

Brian Jones, a Quinnipiac marketing professor, 62, says that from a marketing and business standpoint, Christmas is not what it used to be. Religion is never even mentioned in advertisements anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gone,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI\u2019m not a religious person, but I think the religion has kind of just disappeared out of Christmas. It\u2019s all about the presents now. This isn\u2019t surprising or new, I mean everybody\u2019s been complaining for a long time about the \u2018commercialization\u2019 of Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rev. Jordan Leneghan, executive director of religious life at Quinnipiac University, says that on a religious level, the holiday has definitely become too commercialized.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me as a member of the clergy and person of faith the issue becomes how the language and the symbols are appropriated or I would say perhaps, better put, misappropriated for just (a sort of way) to advance this commercial engagement,\u201d Leneghan said.<\/p>\n

He provided an example of a recent article he read in The New York Times<\/a> about a grocery store in England advertising an advent calendar with a manger scene, but instead of baby Jesus, there was a sausage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of people on Twitter<\/a> and social media that were objecting,\u201d Leneghan said. \u201c(They said) \u2018Why can you appropriate Christmas symbols this way and get away with it, but with other religious communities there would be hell to pay?\u2019\u2026 So that\u2019s my biggest issue with the commercialization of Christmas, it\u2019s one thing with \u2018happy holidays,\u2019 you\u2019ve got a piece of green with a bulb hanging off of it, or red candles, but it\u2019s when you start appropriating actual religious symbols I think it\u2019s problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Quinnipiac student Emma Robertson shopping for friends and family at the Quinnipiac bookstore. Photo by Lindsay Pytel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Quinnipiac student Emma Robertson was one of the 95 respondents of the HQ Press survey, and one of the 72 percent who believe Christmas has become too fixated on commercialization.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that Christmas is definitely commercialized in almost every way,\u201d Robertson said. \u201cObviously it began as a religious holiday…but today it has completely changed from its original purpose. It seems like today, it\u2019s all about presents \u2013 what you\u2019re going to buy or what you\u2019re going to get. It\u2019s all about money.”<\/p>\n

Robertson says she believes it\u2019s due to the over-exposure of gifts displayed in advertisements.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the best example of this is commercials on TV,\u201d she said. \u201cAll you see after Thanksgiving is toy ads and clothing ads and they imply that the holiday season is all about giving material things.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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A P.C. Richard & Son advertisement from this past Thanksgiving in the Meriden Record Journal. Photo by Lindsay Pytel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

In the survey conducted by HQ Press, most respondents said that they think they will spend either more than $300 (35 percent) or $101 to $200 (32 percent) on Christmas gifts in 2017.<\/p>\n

The Christmas season seems to start before Thanksgiving has even begun. In fact, some stores offer deals on Thursday night to gear up for Christmas. Stores began doing this a few years ago most likely to stay face with competitors. However, now a lot of stores advertise the fact that they don\u2019t open on Thanksgiving in an effort to honor the traditions and family values that Fontanez mentioned before. Some of those stores for this year included T.J. Maxx, Nordstrom, Ikea, P.C. Richard and Son and more, according to data collected by bestblackfriday.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jones says he feels that this increase in spending will never stop and he\u2019s seen a shift in the way we celebrate Christmas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like \u2018It\u2019s a Wonderful Life\u2019 anymore, it\u2019s not like it\u2019s \u2018Miracle on 34th Street\u2019 anymore. It\u2019s now about the presents and the marketing, you know Black Friday and getting a deal and shopping,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI\u2019m one of these fatalists that believes that some of these trends are irreversible…I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to better anytime soon…We\u2019re on a treadmill we can\u2019t get off.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says he and his wife have different philosophies of Christmas, where he goes and asks relatives what they want, but she likes to give them something meaningful.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife hates that because I\u2019m falling victim to this commercialization of Christmas,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI think the way to make these people happy is getting the present they want. Maybe that\u2019s a little bit the marketer in me, study your market\u2019s needs and then satisfy them. If she had her way, she wouldn\u2019t ask anybody what they want for Christmas…For years she gave our relatives cookies for Christmas that she baked herself. And I thought \u2018They\u2019re gonna think we\u2019re cheap,\u2019 but really she\u2019s right, I\u2019m wrong, because she\u2019s giving of her time, giving a little piece of herself, she\u2019s baking something from scratch and sending it to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Less than 30 percent of survey respondents said that Christmas hasn\u2019t become too commercialized, however.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Francesca Fontanez shops for Christmas decorations and presents to make her dorm at the University of New Haven feel more festive. Photo courtesy of Francesca Fontanez.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI think Christmas is about so much more than commercialization,\u201d University of New Haven student Francesca Fontanez said. \u201cComing home and being with friends and family, partaking in traditions and spreading kindness are all still held at such a high standard \u2013 at least in my experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rev. Matthew Gworek of Our First Lady of Mount Carmel Church and Catholic Chaplain at Quinnipiac University, 29, says that he thinks that the commercialization of Christmas could be a good thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has become very easy to take this commercialization and spending and hold it up as the antithesis of the real meaning of Christmas,\u201d Gworek said. \u201cBut to be honest, I’m not sure if that is entirely fair either. While the commercial aspects of the season can certainly be excessive at times and have played a role in distracting some people from a religious understanding of what Christmas is, the ways in which we do things and spend our money can be a beautiful reminder to us of the fact that this time of year is, and needs to be, different. The increases in spending are often intimately connected to increases in giving and a more charitable focus in people overall.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Gworek’s church, Our First Lady of Mount Carmel in Hamden. Photo by Lindsay Pytel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Christmas, of course, on a religious level is the celebration of Jesus\u2019 birth. Across the generations, however, there has been an increase in those who consider themselves as \u201cunaffiliated.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Public Religion Research Institute, among those who consider themselves \u201cunaffiliated\u201d are 38 percent of people ages 18 to 29, 26 percent of people ages 30 to 49, 18 percent of people ages 50 to 64 and 12 percent of people ages 65 and up. This raises the question as to if the increase in lack of faith is the reason for a rise in commercialization.<\/p>\n

Rev. Paul Fleck of Hamden Plains United Methodist Church, 47, thinks all holidays can be considered commercial, but not at any greater level now than in years previous. He also says it isn\u2019t the reason society as a whole has become less religious.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of, plenty of false idols of the culture that draw us away from what I think truly gives our life meaning and I think that happens during pretty much any season,\u201d Fleck said. \u201cCertainly there are false idols of patriotism during July 4 that draw us away from our true allegiance to God. There are false idols of trying to out scare each other during Halloween that draw us away from the true meaning of All Hollow\u2019s Eve and All Saint\u2019s Day that follows\u2026 I don\u2019t know that commercialization has done that nearly as much as the busyness of our lives has drawn us away from church.\u201d<\/p>\n

While society may be heading more towards being unaffiliated, Fleck and Leneghan both say at Christmastime attendance in church skyrockets. Leneghan says he thinks at a parish he helps with the number of people nearly double and sometimes that can be overwhelming.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I dread Christmas,\u201d Leneghan said. \u201cYou know, it\u2019s packed with all of these people and they only come for certain things and they take off and for the rest of us what it means to be in a religion is to be part of the ongoing faith community and so that\u2019s something you just can\u2019t put on once a year for an hour\u2026 I also kind of question, \u2018What are you really doing here?\u2019 \u2018What do you get out of (it)?\u2019 \u2018What\u2019s the point in coming for one hour, once a year?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He answered his own questions saying he thinks it\u2019s because of the fact that Christmas kind of offers a \u201cno strings attached\u201d policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand, in some ways Christmas is easier for people than Easter,\u201d Leneghan said. \u201cEaster still makes some claims because Easter is like \u2018adult Jesus\u2019 whereas Christmas is \u2018baby Jesus\u2019 so it\u2019s all about presents. So there\u2019s not a lot of existential claims as Christmas as a holy day makes on you, apart from Christmas as a holiday.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Rev. Matthew Gworek of Our First Lady of Mount Carmel in Hamden and Quinnipiac University Catholic Chaplain. Photo by Lindsay Pytel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

In the survey conducted by HQ Press, however, the respondents were split pretty evenly on yes or no in regards to whether or not they were going to attend a Christmas service this year (41 percent \u201cyes,\u201d 44 percent \u201cno,\u201d 10 percent \u201cmaybe\u201d).<\/p>\n

Gworek agrees with Leneghan saying that it\u2019s not ideal for people to only come to church during the Christmas season. However, he feels that even just coming the one day can leave a lasting impression.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat spirit is something we see this time of year in churches that fill up in a wonderful way on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day like almost no other day of the year,\u201d Gworek said. \u201cI don’t think that’s an accident. Instead, I would say it’s a reality that expresses how, deep down, people understand that there’s something special about this day, and that something special leads them to have at least some kind of desire to set foot in a church.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The commercialization of Christmas is nothing new, but the continued increase in sales has left many wondering if we\u2019ve gone too far. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":251,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hamden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3020,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions\/3020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}