NationStates Jolt Archive

Ok, well the Christmas Commercials are picking up steam. At first we would see one or two once a week (and this was before Halloween), but now it's just growing more and more everyday! Windows display are starting to pop up, as well as Christmas decorations. So me and Leah were talking about this, and when I saw a Best Buy Christmas Commercial, we just both groan and roll our eyes. Christmas has become too commercialized! No longer is it about spending time with family and friends, and celebrating the reason, and the spirit of the season, but now it's about buying present, not because you want to, or to express that you love or care about a person, no, you must now buy a gift because you have to! Bah, Christmas commercials should not be on this early anyways!

Ok, well the Christmas Commercials are picking up steam. At first we would see one or two once a week (and this was before Halloween), but now it's just growing more and more everyday! Windows display are starting to pop up, as well as Christmas decorations. So me and Leah were talking about this, and when I saw a Best Buy Christmas Commercial, we just both groan and roll our eyes. Christmas has become too commercialized! No longer is it about spending time with family and friends, and celebrating the reason, and the spirit of the season, but now it's about buying present, not because you want to, or to express that you love or care about a person, no, you must now buy a gift because you have to! Bah, Christmas commercials should not be on this early anyways!

Yep. It really does get earlier every year.

In the store I worked at, we got our Christmas merchandise in August. The merchandise went up end of September.

Yep. It really does get earlier every year.

Me and Leah may just rent a cabin up in the mountain for a week and just celebrate Christmas the old fashion way.

my kids want to put up the tree already.....I told them absolutely not! (not until Black Friday!)

I just got back from a mall. Santa is already out looking for kids. This is way, way, too early to start thinking about Christmas.

my kids want to put up the tree already.....I told them absolutely not! (not until Black Friday!)

Jeez... I don't remember this at all, but Smunkee, didn't it use to be that the tree didn't go up until Christmas Eve?

Jeez... I don't remember this at all, but Smunkee, didn't it use to be that the tree didn't go up until Christmas Eve?

that's what my husband claims.......

we have a fake tree though, it could stay up year round and not hurt anything.

Jeez... I don't remember this at all, but Smunkee, didn't it use to be that the tree didn't go up until Christmas Eve?

I know what you mean.

Well, thats capitalism for you.

Well, thats capitalism for you.

Capitalism makes baby Jesus Cry. :p

My three year old cousin wants an iPod. iPod!! I don't even have an iPod. What the hell is a three year old going to do with an iPod besides drool on it??

If you think Christmas is too commercial, don't shop in the months of November or December.

I agree with you (I even made a thread about it (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=506588)). And I'm a dirty Atheist!

My three year old cousin wants an iPod. iPod!! I don't even have an iPod. What the hell is a three year old going to do with an iPod besides drool on it??
my three year old asked for an MP3 player but she doesn't want an iPod, she wants this (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7935522&type=product&id=1151658135087) one.

Christmas is the biggest time of year for big corporations to cash in on the average Christian bloke's stuff (and even some atheists from Christian families such as myself). Exploitation of holidays has always happened. Christmas for presents, Halloween for costumes, Guy Fawkes Night (the fireworks equivilent of Independance Day in America, only with less guns and less celebrating freedom and more celebrating the death of some Catholic guy) for fireworks, etc.
Sadly the true meaning of Christmas has been blurred and distorted by capitalism, meaning the true meaning of Christmas isn't celebrated as much as the capitalist meaning.

I disagree, I do not think Christmas is commercialised enough.

What better way is there to spread joy into the hearts of the masses than to remind them of all the money they will get to spend and how much material clutter their lives will be enriched with.

Ho ho ho!

Jeez... I don't remember this at all, but Smunkee, didn't it use to be that the tree didn't go up until Christmas Eve?

CHRISTMAS EVE!? Where on Earth would you find the time!?

Since Christian traditions assimilated the solstice festivals of late december, it is interesting to see the commercialisation of these festivals now assimilate the christian mythos.

I wonder if 2000 years from now, people will be complaining that the Holiday Season is becoming too pagan, detracting from its traditional commercial consumerism.

Since Christian traditions assimilated the solstice festivals of late december, it is interesting to see the commercialisation of these festivals now assimilate the christian mythos.

I wonder if 2000 years from now, people will be complaining that the Holiday Season is becoming too pagan, detracting from its traditional commercial consumerism.

I can just imagine all the conservatives of the time screaming about it.

"It's the war on Capitalismas! All these people saving their money or giving it to the poor. It's immoral! People going to church instead of the shopping centre?! Whatever happened to the great consumerist tradition this country was founded on?! It's immoral and evil and I'm disgusted by it! People trying to turn this great indulgence into some kind of religious observance. It's a perversion of everything Capitalismas stands for! The Holy Market will surely punish us all!"

I'm upset by early christmas commericals. Not becuase it detracts from the meaning of the holiday or any of that garbage (it's a bastardized pagan holiday, why not bastardize it further with capitalism, afterall) but well, first of all, lately stuff has been going up before Hallowe'en, which is a much better bastardized pagan festival in the first place and secondly, christmas crap always goes up before my birthday, which is much more important than Christmas could ever be.

my kids want to put up the tree already.....I told them absolutely not! (not until Black Friday!)

My family always used to wait either untill Hanukkah was over, or untill four days before christmas (whichever came first).

of course, we didn't celebrate either holiday religiously

well, even here in Poland where it does not start until the week before "christmas", this is still bloody annoying. But what bothers me the most is those horrible songs!

Christmas HAS to come earlier every year. The population of the world is increasing dramatically, and even with his uber technology/powerful magic/combination of the two, Santa needs that much more time to compile his list! :rolleyes:

My family always used to wait either untill Hanukkah was over, or untill four days before christmas (whichever came first).

of course, we didn't celebrate either holiday religiously

one of our trees has to be up 13 days before Christmas.....the other all month long, and then the regular one can go up any time, that's the one we do the day after Thanksgiving.

all of our Tree's come down the day after Christmas though....if that makes you guys feel better.

Ok, well the Christmas Commercials are picking up steam. At first we would see one or two once a week (and this was before Halloween), but now it's just growing more and more everyday! Windows display are starting to pop up, as well as Christmas decorations. So me and Leah were talking about this, and when I saw a Best Buy Christmas Commercial, we just both groan and roll our eyes. Christmas has become too commercialized! No longer is it about spending time with family and friends, and celebrating the reason, and the spirit of the season, but now it's about buying present, not because you want to, or to express that you love or care about a person, no, you must now buy a gift because you have to! Bah, Christmas commercials should not be on this early anyways!

Oh, wow, it's a "christmas has been too commercialized" thread. And seriously dude, must every single post you make contain the words "so me and leah were talking"?

Oh, speaking of trees, I plan on purchasing a small one myself, an artificial one to be used by me year after year...for celebrating Newtonmas. Anyone got any ideas where I could obtain a Newtonmas tree?

Well. Its not just commercialized its also people being idiots and overpaying on something. Like people selling a PS3 for $1000 on Ebay. Only an idiot would pay that much for something that costs $600. Everybody just wants to get everybody else's money.

my three year old asked for an MP3 player but she doesn't want an iPod, she wants this (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7935522&type=product&id=1151658135087) one.

Your three year old is smart. Ipod's are overrated and way more expensive than they should be.

Your three year old is smart. Ipod's are overrated and way more expensive than they should be.

dad told us we had to find one for less than $100 that's the best one we could find, she is happy that it will store pictures for her too.

I hate to be the one that breaks it to you, but Christmas has been this commercialised for over a decade now at least, and every year people say the same thing - it's too commercialised. And why not? Do you believe that people go into business to provide a much-needed service to the general population, or to make money? Of course when they find a way of making heaps of money they're going to exploit it as best as they can! Corporations respond to changes in the market - if people didn't buy into it, corporations wouldn't bother with it, so in reality it's our own fault really.

Besides, I think it's great. Winter, in Britain anyway, is a dismal, cold, wet affair. Now that the clocks have gone back (WHY?! WHY?!), it's dark for pretty much all of our spare time during the week. Our digits are constantly frost bitten, our coats are always dripping, and we're all suffering from SAD. What better way to make life easier for people than to spruce everything up with pretty lights, colourful decorations, jolly music and the prospect of exchanging gifts? It makes for a happier atmosphere, brighter surroundings, and gives people something to look forward to. Christmas according to corporations starts at just the right time - when winter sets in. The biggest problem of all is that it ends before spring comes around!

I hate to be the one that breaks it to you, but Christmas has been this commercialised for over a decade now at least, and every year people say the same thing - it's too commercialised. And why not? Do you believe that people go into business to provide a much-needed service to the general population, or to make money? Of course when they find a way of making heaps of money they're going to exploit it as best as they can! Corporations respond to changes in the market - if people didn't buy into it, corporations wouldn't bother with it, so in reality it's our own fault really.

Besides, I think it's great. Winter, in Britain anyway, is a dismal, cold, wet affair. Now that the clocks have gone back (WHY?! WHY?!), it's dark for pretty much all of our spare time during the week. Our digits are constantly frost bitten, our coats are always dripping, and we're all suffering from SAD. What better way to make life easier for people than to spruce everything up with pretty lights, colourful decorations, jolly music and the prospect of exchanging gifts? It makes for a happier atmosphere, brighter surroundings, and gives people something to look forward to. Christmas according to corporations starts at just the right time - when winter sets in. The biggest problem of all is that it ends before spring comes around!
...

You make sense. This is rare nowadays.

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You make sense. This is rare nowadays.

Well, it's Friday evening and I've had a few bottles. Wait 'till it wears off and then come back to me... :p

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. Has something to do with warm childhood memories of all the family getting together. I love Christmas, but I hate it when people start promoting Christmas in stores and such before Thanksgiving. In my nationstates nation I have just made that illegal!

yawn

$$$$$$$ <----

They start right after halloween now. Use to be right after thanksgiving .. soon it will be right after easter.

x-mas is a fake holiday anyway. they can commercialize the hell out of it for all I care.

Capitalism makes baby Jesus Cry. :p

Would your rather be a Commie? You couldn't give anything because the person already owns it.

Last July, I walked into my favorite grocery store and saw Christmas decorations and heard Christmas music, it was horrifying. I was traumatized for weeks and almost didn't go back.

Last July, I walked into my favorite grocery store and saw Christmas decorations and heard Christmas music, it was horrifying. I was traumatized for weeks and almost didn't go back.

Yeah right.. annoyed is more like it.

Yeah right.. annoyed is more like it.

A couple of days later, I went back and asked one of the clerks what was going on. She said they were having a big Christmas in July promotion. The problem was that it wasn't going over very well; there had been a lot of complaints and threats to boycott. I don't think they'll do it again.

Would your rather be a Commie? You couldn't give anything because the person already owns it.

I was kidding.

In the store I worked at, we got our Christmas merchandise in August. The merchandise went up end of September.

Scary indeed.

x-mas is a fake holiday anyway. they can commercialize the hell out of it for all I care.

What constitutes a real holiday?


Wilgrove-You're behind the talking point wave, too comercialized was ten, twenty years ago (probably longer), now the complaint is it's not commercial enough-if a clerk doesn't wish you specifically "Merry Christmas" by Fall they're a dirty America hater who is actively trying to destroy Christmas...

that's what my husband claims.......

we have a fake tree though, it could stay up year round and not hurt anything.

nah. you put it up 12 days before christmas and take down 12 days after

Yes Christmas is too commercial, but I have doubts about whether it could survive if it wasn't.

Well. Its not just commercialized its also people being idiots and overpaying on something. Like people selling a PS3 for $1000 on Ebay. Only an idiot would pay that much for something that costs $600. Everybody just wants to get everybody else's money.

In my country, the PS3's RRP $AU1000, which is roughly $US770, and it's delayed. How do you think all Oz's resident fanboys feel?

Your three year old is smart. Ipod's are overrated and way more expensive than they should be.

iTunes :upyours:

nah. you put it up 12 days before christmas and take down 12 days after

No. You put the physical tree into place on Thanksgiving, then wait until 12/11 (2 weeks before Christmas) to decorate it. At this point is when the Christmas (or as the PC police say "holiday") sales should really begin. Then you say "Merry Christmas" (or, for amore considerate person, New Christmahanukwanza or for a PCer happy holidays) and put the lights out (a backwards thing, BTW) and wear them hats and act Christmas-ly. After New Years, no more holiday spirit. After a specific holiday, it is cut from the ones of which you can have spirit. Then you got until 2 weeks after New Years to take your Christmas stuff and put it up. and then shut up until next Thanksgiving.

Tell me about it. At work Christmas decorations were up in mid October. OCTOBER! It hadn't ven been Halloween yet......Oh well I got some good deals thanks to some Christmas sales

No. You put the physical tree into place on Thanksgiving, then wait until 12/11 (2 weeks before Christmas) to decorate it. At this point is when the Christmas (or as the PC police say "holiday") sales should really begin. Then you say "Merry Christmas" (or, for amore considerate person, New Christmahanukwanza or for a PCer happy holidays) and put the lights out (a backwards thing, BTW) and wear them hats and act Christmas-ly. After New Years, no more holiday spirit. After a specific holiday, it is cut from the ones of which you can have spirit. Then you got until 2 weeks after New Years to take your Christmas stuff and put it up. and then shut up until next Thanksgiving.

we don't celebrate thanksgiving. SO MY TRADITION STANDS!!!!!:upyours:

wow you version seems alot more hassle. 12 days before & 12 days after is easier to keep track of. Oh and has to be a fake tree. real ones are too messy and seeing druids and such crying over a dead tree is quite annoying.

For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving was the official barrier before the Xmas commercial binge. The day after Thanksgiving would be an explosion of Xmas SPEND SPEND SPEND hooplah.

This year, I noticed the Xmas spend-fest kicking off on November 1st. Wow.

Of course, only a day later the CHRISTmas whiners kicked into high gear, because apparently America's various retailers don't honor CHRIST loud enough, often enough, or with big enough sales.

"Boo hoo hoo, Jeebus' name isn't getting slapped on enough toasters!!! WHY DO YOU ALL HATE CHRISTIANS?!"

I fully and completely support the folks who are fighting against the War On Christmas. I agree that Christmas ought to be used to sell anything and everything, starting on Nov 1 and extending until Easter. I regard Jesus as a marketing gimmick anyhow, and I'm delighted to see so many rabid Christianists on my side on this one. Together, we should be able to rear an entire generation of children who view Jesus as more or less the same as Ronald McDonald.

Soon Christmas will overtake the 4th of July, then Easter at which point it will be powerful enough to control the world then it will send out ships of Christmas spirit to the stars to conquer other world's holidays and consequently the worlds themselves until Christmas is its own universal tyrannical government.

All this and more in Zarakon's new book, "DUH!:Observations on what happens when you involve material possessions and phat loot in holidays"

Soon Christmas will overtake the 4th of July, then Easter at which point it will be powerful enough to control the world then it will send out ships of Christmas spirit to the stars to conquer other world's holidays and consequently the worlds themselves until Christmas is its own universal tyrannical government.

Santa isn't going to be a fat jolly guy anymore is he?

For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving was the official barrier before the Xmas commercial binge. The day after Thanksgiving would be an explosion of Xmas SPEND SPEND SPEND hooplah.

This year, I noticed the Xmas spend-fest kicking off on November 1st. Wow.

Of course, only a day later the CHRISTmas whiners kicked into high gear, because apparently America's various retailers don't honor CHRIST loud enough, often enough, or with big enough sales.



Ironically enough, the "X" in "X-mas" comes from the Greek word for "Christ" which is anglicized as an X.

It's rather obvious that Christmas is no longer a "Christian" holiday, which isn't really anything new. There's nothing particularily Christian about sticking a tree in your home and worshipping it for the winter solistice. But that's okay, I think, ultimately. Christians will celebrate it their way, secularists or people from other religious traditions will celebrate their way, and marketing executives will celebrate it their way. Christmas is disgustingly commericalized, I agree, but it's a symptom of the disgustingly commercilized mindset in the US.