It's about more than shopping! (Christmas and Commercialisation)

Member Name: Alternum

Product:	Christmas and Commercialisation
Date:	12/11/00 (24 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Allowing people two months to worry about what to buy Auntie Gertrude instead of just the one

Disadvantages: Rampant commercialism destroys the finer points of Christmas - the humanity of it just goes

Christmas. It's a Christian festival which celebrates the birth of Christ, having its origins in a pagan festival. It's a chance to reflect on what has happened during the year, to get together with family and catch up, to think about what happened 2000 years ago.

Christmas. Or, the months of November and December, when the adverts for Christmas things begin to appear on TV, and when supermarkets introduce their 'Christmas' aisles. Sometimes they wait until after Bonfire Night, but not always. All it is, is an excuse for us all to spend lots of money on each other, in the form of lavish presents, and for various companies to boost their sales figures a bit - essentially a mutual help thing.

Both of these are obviously fairly extreme views compared with the seemingly indifferent attitude of most people. But every year, the Christmas stamps come out a few days earlier, and the wrapping paper appears a few days earlier, and so do the adverts, and Christmas gets extended back a little. Why? Because various companies want to cash in for a little bit longer. Simple as that.

In my opinion, we shouldn't start thinking about Christmas until Advent. That's the start of the season according to the Christian calendar, and this after all is what the whole thing is supposed to be about. To start any sooner does indeed reduce it down to a very commercial level - and if society cannot appreciate that there is more to life than shopping, something is very very wrong.

Summary: