Christmas is right around the corner, and during this time is when people are spending their money the most. It’s one of the most celebrated holidays in America, and that is why commercialization can be an issue during this time of year. Commercialization is the process of managing or running something principally for financial gain. It began in the 1840’s because marketers saw Christmas as a good way to sell their products. People are either buying gifts, decorations, christmas trees, or food for the meal everyone’s shares on Christmas Day.
Since people are out shopping so much for their family and friends it is the perfect opportunity for marketers around the world to boost their sales and gain more profit. It has been stated by resources that sales will rise by 3.5 percent this year during Christmas time. Another strategy stores and companies use to get more customers is that they create more deals or sales to draw in customers. Sophomore student Alexis Norbeck says, “I think commercialization is a smart but sneaky tactic to use to attract customers.” This tactic also ties in with the biggest shopping day of the year.
The most popular shopping day in America with 72 percent of people going out for cheaper holiday shopping is Black Friday. Business education teacher Bradley Scharber puts his opinion on Black Friday shopping, “I think Black Friday goes hand in hand with it, buy the products on discount and then they turn into gifts.” Black Friday is the day where a variety of stores have deals and discounts on products, just in time for Christmas shopping. The lowest stores drop their prices for the day or even week by about 25 percent but only a minor amount can drop them by about 70 – 80 percent.
In December 2022 Americans spent 20 percent more purchasing items for the holidays than they did in December of 2012. The holiday season during 2022 Americans have spent a total of $531.8 billion buying items which equals to about $1,600 being spent per person, but $3,800 per household. December and November are the two highest spending categories for the year because they are the most celebrated holidays. With inflation rising the amount being spent per year is expected to increase.
Commercialization has caused people to correlate certain colors, decorations, foods, and drinks with Christmas because of the advertisements they see in stores or online. Companies can use those advertisements as a way to boost their sales by using logical fallacies as a way to make people buy their products. Some of the most popular examples of logical fallacies are slippery slope, bandwagon, ad hominem, and hasty generalization. Sophomore student Sumaya Yusuf states her opinion on the topic of commercialization, “I feel like stores really try to promote their products in a short amount of time so that customers will buy it right there and then.”
People realize that commercialization is happening, but they might just not know what it is or how it really affects them. That’s why it’s a smart and creative tactic for companies to use it to get people to buy their products.
