This is a short tale about something that has actual terminology: advertising season creep. It is the retail and advertising phenomenon that, each year, sees traditional shopping events creep ever and ever earlier into our calendars.
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Tonight’s feature presentation: ADVERTISING SEASON CREEP
I know you hate this: Christmas stuff goes on display before Thanksgiving. Or even before Halloween. (In Australia, it starts as early as late September). Heaven forbid, It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, wherein Charlie Brown and the gang are forewarned that there are only 246 days left until Christmas.
Fourth of July trinkets appear before Easter.
Black Friday sales seem to be starting well before Black Friday each year.
I live in Canada, where Black Friday isn’t even a thing. That’s because our Thanksgiving is at an earlier spot on the calendar, and it’s always on a Monday, not Thursday. So the concept of Black Friday for shopping doesn’t actually exist here. But that doesn’t stop Canadian retailers from having Black Friday sales events, on the same day as their U.S. counterparts. And now it’s not just a day, but has become Black Friday Week. Go figure.
What we do have here, unlike for our American friends, is Boxing Day. This is a centuries-old holiday that has roots in the U.K., and still exists in most Commonwealth countries. In simple terms, Boxing Day is the day after Christmas, December 26. In many jurisdictions though, if that date falls on a Saturday or Sunday, then it is officially celebrated on the immediate following Monday.
Here in Canada, Boxing Day is a huge retail day. It’s the day when everybody goes to the stores to return those socks given to you by Aunt Martha, bless her heart. And there are big clearance sales; Christmas-themed items are often half price, or less. I remember my parents always going shopping on Boxing Day, and scooping up supplies to squirrel away for the next Christmas: wrapping paper, decorations, boxes of Christmas cards (the old-fashioned kind that people used to mail out to family and friends), and so on.
But, we have gotten to the point where Boxing Day is no longer just a day. Now it’s Boxing Week, or (gasp!) Boxing Month. The promotions start well before Christmas (“come in now for our huge pre-Christmas Boxing Day sale!!!” (WTF?)) and continue well into January.
You can probably see where this is going.
Imagine my non-surprise when a hard-copy flyer arrived at my door this past week featuring the printed version of this online home page banner:
Yes indeed, it’s the “Half Way to Boxing Day” sale. In June. So popular, apparently, that it had to be held over.
My gawd. What have these people done?
top comments for sunday june 26, 2016
From Tara the Antisocial Social Worker:
In GayIthacan's diary about the latest debacle by the National Organization for (some people's) Marriage, “NOM’s Annual ‘March for Marriage’ Draws a Supendous Crowd...”, CoyoteMarti had a thoughtful comment about how we reach "tipping points" on issues that once seemed out of reach.
top mojo for saturday june 25, 2016
top photos for saturday june 26, 2016