America And The Commercialization Of Halloween

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by Benedict Fisher

Halloween is probably the most commercialized celebration in America. When we talk about commercial potential, Halloween comes second to Christmas when it comes to popularity and marketability.

Commercial value

Halloween is well-liked by children and adults. There is also a broad assortment of adult activities for Halloween. Ever since a columnist of New York Times declared the world flat, international parades such as The Greenwich Village Halloween parade draws more than one million individuals per year.

Events such as this one contributes positively to the economy. The amount varies from every year, but there was a particular year wherein Greenwich Village Halloween parade raked in sixty million dollars. Due to the high market viability and benefits that these events bring to the community, even religious organizations keep a blind eye on the festivities.

Canada and the United States

The Halloween festivities in Canada have been observed to generate roughly seven hundred million dollars in earnings. On average, American households spend around forty-five dollars for the Halloween celebration. Young urban professionals typically spend more for Halloween festivities.

The Halloween festivities generate around 6.8 billion dollars for the U.S. economy. Popular products for Halloween are:

- Candy

- Halloween Costumes

- Cards

- Party supplies

Letting of a little steam

Halloween isn’t just about costumes and candies. For some, Halloween is a great time to let go of accumulated stress. Halloween is a great time for people to go to rave parties, drink all night, let off some steam, and just relax.

It’s surprising to see such an old celebration last this long. Halloween has survived the years not only because of all the happy children who go around in costumes trick-or-treating, but also because of the adults. If not for the movement of corporatist entities, Halloween would have been long gone by now. It seems that the only way to maintain this old celebration is to avoid doing offensive and inappropriate actions during Halloween.

Troubles

What makes the adult celebration of Halloween a sore point for the conservative, religious Right? To an extent, two factors are very prominent with the religious Right:

- Alcohol

- Homosexuality

Homosexuality (which includes men and women) is very rampant during Halloween since everybody feels it’s the time of year when you can do anything you want and express yourself freely. Alcohol use on the other hand is a very big issue, since beer and hard liquor companies take advantage of the festivities to promote their products. Most Halloween parties are “all nighters” and booze is free-flowing.

More beer translates to more freedom: and the Halloween becomes the pinnacle of personal hedonism and liberty. Compared to the Yuletide season where people are encouraged to not drink and instead buy electronic goods, Halloween is the much-awaited free-for-all.

Halloween is most popular in America, but that does not mean other countries do not celebrate it. More and more countries are starting to have bigger festivities and celebrations during the Halloween season. It’s not unusual for other countries to sell Halloween-themed toys and costumes.

For instance, in the U.K., Halloween is experiencing a renewed popularity. They usually celebrate it by wearing scary masks and lighting bonfires.

About the Author:

Costume Finder is a leading supplier of Halloween fancy dress costumes including Zombie Costumes, Vampire Costumes, and Devil Costumes.

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