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Is It Christmas Already?
By Erika Clarke, Staff Writer
The
Christmas season usually starts December 1. For ambitious shoppers,
it might start the day after Thanksgiving. Despite the fact that
there is no set date to start celebrating Christmas, there is no
doubt that the season has already started.
The first holiday commercials
appeared soon after Halloween. Toys R Us aired millions of
commercials every day, trying to promote new toys. Other stores
followed suit, including department stores and supermarkets. Special
holiday deals were promoted even though Thanksgiving had not rolled
around yet.
Stores such as Vons and Albertsons,
started to offer deals on turkey and ham, traditional Christmas
foods. Very few commercials discussed Thanksgiving, skipping
straight to Christmas. On Black Friday, the malls were filled with
customers desperately trying to get a head start on shopping.
Christmas movies appeared in previews
and commercials early. This is almost always expected. Many movies
are promoted a year or more in advance. Many people look forward to
seeing these movies. Movie theatres and producers anticipate their
customers' excitement. They run commercials in early November,
hoping to draw audiences. While this can only be expected of the
movie industry, what does it say about other companies that use the
same tactics?
There are many reasons why people
rushed to stores and malls. Many people wanted to purchase their
gifts while their money was available or perhaps they were going on
vacation and would not be able to shop any other time. Do any of
these make sense? Children in poor countries are walking through the
streets starving, while people here buy hundreds of dollars of
presents for their friends and family.
The holiday season was meant to be a
time of tolerance and togetherness. Families celebrate their happy
memories while creating new ones. Gifts are supposed to be a way of
showing love and appreciation to family and friends. Whether a
religion celebrates a holiday this season or not, December is a time
for appreciating family and friends. Year round, kids look forward
to holidays as just another opportunity to miss school. Others see
these holidays as time to remember relatives they lost or celebrate
people in the past that have changed the way they live today. People
are losing the meaning of the holidays by becoming materialistic.
Contemporary society allows corporations to twist the year-end
holidays into strategies to make money for themselves. People should
stop thinking of money and bring back the traditions that were once
known and loved.
SUPERIMPOSED:
“Although Christmas is my favorite holiday, I did think that they
advertised Christmas too early because it made Thanksgiving fly by
like is never happened.”
-Senior Sean Minutella
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