Take a look at your local grocery store, and you’ll almost certainly find that a Christmas display has popped up. Some are even playing Christmas songs. And it won’t be long until radio stations start playing holiday songs, too. What’s behind all of this? Why does Christmas commercialization start earlier and earlier every year?
According to ABC4, there’s a term for this: Christmas Creep. That’s “the tendency for Christmas products, decorations, and advertising to be displayed earlier each year.” According to Dr. Kristy Grayson, a marketing professor, this product placement is based on past buying trends. In other words, it’s the fault of the consumers that this Christmas Creep is happening. In a CBS news article, business professor Elaine Luther explained that “They [the companies]’re trying to get there first before each of their competitors…”
The holiday season is the busiest and most profitable time of year for many businesses, so it makes sense they want to extend it. More holiday time, more money.
Apparently, in 2020, consumers started buying Christmas items even earlier than usual, unsure if they would be available during the holiday season. The stores were ready for this, though. According to CNN, “In 2021, Amazon and Walmart, afraid of tepid consumer demand because of the pandemic, initiated holiday sales as early as October.”
For consumers, it may have also been a move of comfort–some psychologists think decorating early for holidays makes you happier, according to the Journal of Environmental Psychology. Dr. Kelly Sopchak theorizes that Christmas decorating brings anticipation, nostalgia, distraction, and a positive focus, effectively relieving stress for some.
So, there are strategies behind “Christmas Creep”, and decorating early is actually helpful to some. So next time you see one of those Christmas displays, hopefully you now know a bit more about why it’s there.
Image from: The Northern Light
The Bishop Kelly Newspaper 