Holidays have always been known to affect our consumer culture for many years, but how it all began eludes many people and very few studies have been completed on it. Even though some say that the subject is too broad to precisely identify how holidays, especially Christmas, directly affect our market, I have found that people’s values, expectations and rituals related to holidays can cause an excessive amount of spending among our society. Most people are unaware that over the centuries holidays have become such a profitable time of year for industries that they now starting to promote gift ideas on an average of a month and a half ahead of actual holiday dates to meet consumer demands.
Religions influences on consumer’s behavioral spending habits have drastically changed throughout the past centuries. Christian’s rituals of holidays such as Christmas were once only demonstrated by worshipping God and attending Church Masses and services in early years. Their behavioral habits can be understood by their spiritual philosophy of the spirit, God. Hegal, a philosopher, argued that “spirit” represented the essence of freedom, distinguishable from the individual “self.” (Lindridge 2005). This belief prompted people to focus more intently on their religion then on the actual idea of buying gifts for the holidays. Christianity worship particularly was a time that was meant to set a time away from the markets or business’ and a time for one’s soul to repent. Often time services would be held for worship, not only Sundays and holidays, but as well two to three other days during the working week. This custom lasted for many years among the religious groups while the markets struggled to stay productive.
Fairs, markets, a...
... middle of paper ...
...olibrary.com retrieved August 1, 2008.
Matthew Kirdahy (November 2006) – Happy Holidays? Consumer Spending Rebounds – Forbes
Magazine from: www.forbes.com retrieved August 21, 2008.
Christian E. Weller ( December 2006) – Consumer Debt: A Christmas Story; Retail Spending
May Slump This Holiday Season from: www.americanprogress.com retrieved August 21, 2008.
Annie Leonard (December 2007) – The Story of Stuff: free video unmask consumer culture from
www.energybulletin.net retrieved August 21, 2008.
Elizabeth H. Pleck – Celebrating the Family: Ethnicity, Consumer Culture, and Family Rituals
from www.eric.ed.gov retrieved August 21, 2008.
-----------------------
Picture 3: A Coca-Cola Ad from 1936
Picture 2: A New York Cathedral
Note 1: Courtesy of www.wikitravel.org
Picture 1: Melaka Christian churchyard filled with merchants.
...he holiday season. No imaginable Supreme Court is going to create obstacles to this consumer juggernaut. Nor is any Jewish group or Islamic group likely to finance a test case to bring down Christmas. They too are merchants" (p. 28-29).
What about other countries though? Is the Christmas season all about giving and receiving gifts? Are children in Spain rewarded by Santa with gifts and toys on Christmas Eve? In this essay we will look at what Christmas season means in Spain, and what traditions are prevalent in their culture. We will also look at the Christmas related traditions of Americans, and how those compare and contrast to those in Spain.
There are many people who are driven by consumerism, and many people who wish they could get in touch with that type of world. Consumers are often encouraged to advertise more of the products that they are buying to get more people to buy more products. Hari Kunzru, author of “Raj, Bohemian,” creates a narrator who is obsessed with maintaining his individuality and free will in a world that is overcome with consumerism. Believes that the world takes away individuality when consumerism comes into play and how hard it is to maintain their true self. In her LA Times article “Teen Haulers Create a Fashion Force,” Andrea Chang writes about the phenomenon of teenage YouTube users who make videos that publicize their latest shopping binges.
For decades, stores have opened their doors in the wee hours of the morning on the fabulous Black Friday. In recent years, however, the “early-bird special” concept changed when many major chains from Target to Toys R Us opened on Thanksgiving Day itself, turning the best shopping day of the year into a two-day celebration. This is quite disturbing to some because man...
Those of us, who believe in Jesus, decide to set a date aside I honour
“What is the reason for the season?” I constantly hear family and friends use this saying to remind people that Jesus’ birth is why we celebrate Christmas. Although some people remember that Jesus came into the world on that day, most people have forgotten the true meaning. Thousands of Americans just look at Christmas as an opportunity to receive presents, shop, hang out with friends and family, or eat. Retailers just look at it as a way to make extra money. Few people see the real meaning. Our culture has gone so far as to say “Merry X-mas” or “Happy Holidays” just to take Christ out of Christmas and avoid offending anyone. The way Christmas has changed over the years is displayed by the change in history, current-day U.S.A, and my own life.
Consumer culture has developed over the years for many different reasons such as the demise of the social class and embourgeoisement which are both key factors in capitalism and has therefore led to the argument that consumer society merely reflects the rise of capitalism which I plan to discuss within this assignment. The origins of consumer culture have been discussed by Grant McCracken (1998) who argues that there is minimal agreement in regards to the origins of consumer society. McCracken took on the viewpoint that it would not be beneficial to look at a specific point in time in which consumer culture arose but to primarily focus on patterns of changes within culture and how these pattern of changes led to the reformation of society.
The religious fanfare in America is overwhelmingly Christian. There appears to be a major increase of interest in spirituality. However, there is a vast difference in the devoutness of churchgoers in frequency of church attendance. The manner in which these individuals attend church is influenced by their ages and also whether or not they have endured difficult life situations. After attending a few church services, one becomes very aware of the various types of attendees. There are three types of churchgoer categories: the Never- Miss-a-Service Churchgoers, the Show-Up for Sunday Morning Service Churchgoers, and lastly, but certainly not the least, Holiday Churchgoers.
“The Story of Stuff” is a 20 minutes documentary film made by Annie Leonard. It was published in 2007. Within the 20 minutes time frame, Annie Leonard had conveyed the message about the problems in consumption of different things and stuff. She has shown how everything is linked and connected with each other such as the environmental problems are linked with the social justice and these issues are linked with declining happiness. Furthermore, her short documentary showed how government is being threatened by the corporations when it comes to the protecting of common goods. “Leonard’s videos aren’t all critique—she almost always ends on an inspirational note, empowering viewers to stand up and demand a clean earth and fair economy. But her latest video focuses on the cumulative effect of these actions: changing the goal of the economic game itself.” (Annie Leonard and the Story of Solutions)
We live in a world where everything revolves around materialism. A trip to a local shopping center or a few minutes browsing television shows provide strong evidence of reliance on materialistic possessions. This reality prevails in most areas of today's social fabric. In the article, "In Defense of Materialism During This Busy Holiday Season", Jay Ambrose points out that materialism has a positive effect on humans. Although Ambrose believes that materialism is a catalyst for development, it proves to be more detrimental than beneficial. Materialistic people tend to become less likely to work hard. It has created an illusory persona based on what they own rather than who they are. Materialism not only affects an individual, but affects the environment as well.
In The Rise of Consumer Society in Britain, John Benson identifies consumer societies as those "in which choice and credit are readily available, in which social value is defined in terms of purchasing power and material possessions, and in which there is a desire, above all, for that which is new, modern, exciting and fashionable." For decades research on the history of consumerism had been winding the clock up to the nineteenth century as the starting point of a culture of consumption that fits Benson’s description. For societies like these to exist, there needed to be a fair portion of the population with enough money to purchase goods beyond daily necessities; there needed to be powerful productive forces to make enough goods available and allow for new strategies of marketing and selling; there also needed to be a tendency among people to start investing social meanings and emotions in the acquisition of goods. Industrialization, these histories tell us, prepared the ground for a consumer culture to develop thanks to malleable markets, large production lines, rise of shopping, advertising, marketing, etc.
Mooij, M.de. (2004). Consumer Behavior and Culture, Sage Publications, Page 102, Page 119, Page 274, Page 275
As I skim through the Chadwick’s mail-order catalog, I come across a woman, who looks as if she is in her mid-thirties, standing outside on the snow-covered ground. Her gloved hand is arched back in a ready-to-throw position with a snowball resting in her palm. The woman is wearing a ¾ length gray wool coat and black leather gloves, which catches my eye. The serene, white-topped leaves of the pine trees lean in different directions, waiting for spring to arrive. “Winter is a breeze if you buy this coat” is the message I receive from this friendly-gestured woman. This warm, easy feeling especially comes into play during the holiday season when we buy gifts for our friends and family.
I was very surprised to find that Christmas, what I thought was an American holiday, is actually a celebration observed in many countries around the world, including the country of Uganda (“Uganda”). Since Christmas is an important holiday to me, and is commonly observed in the United States, I thought it would be interesting to learn about other cultures’ Christmas traditions and celebrations.
Holiday shopping, for me, is a nightmare because of the abundance of crowds, all of the fighting and competitiveness. I believe those last minute shoppers are the worst, they are the ones that are rude and impatient. For some people, with lots of patience, dealing with holiday shoppers is a good experience. For people like me, who has very little patience, it is a dreadful experience. Another aspect of shopping during the holidays is dealing with tired, overworked and frustrated employees. They are just trying to get their jobs done as quickly as possible, so they can go home to their families. Meanwhile, you have those employees that are cheerful and are eager to help the distraught shoppers. Also, during the holidays horrible accidents can occur often at this time of year. I am going to portray the dangers and mishaps that can occur during the holidays. I am not anti-holiday, but the older I get the more I don't have any desire to be exposed to all of the potential chaos.