Halloween: A Time for the Consumers Market
By: Ty Rowley
Have you ever felt an extra spook when the leaves begin to fall and the nights get longer? Have you ever been haunted by ghouls and ghosts around the spooky day of October 31st? It's the time of the harvest and the time that the weather gets colder and crops and plants begin to die. Creepy head stones, ghosts, witches, and monsters lie in your neighbor's yard or even on your own. During this time of the year, we as Americans hold many traditions near and dear to our hearts. At this time of the year Americans will spend billions of dollars on this holiday alone from candy, costumes and decorations. But, why is this holiday like this? Who changed the way we celebrate Halloween? During this article, we will discuss how the consumer market has changed Halloween.
The roots of this holiday originate from Paganism. In "Halloween; Where did it come from" by Herman L. Hoeh he explains the origins of Paginism and Halloween. The word "Pagan" comes from the Latin word "paganus", which means those who practiced a religion other than Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. Early Christians often used the term to refer to non-Christians who worshiped multiple deities. In Latin, "paganus" originally meant “country dweller", "civilian" or "those who live outside the city."(Hoeh 509). Halloween started as a Celtic or a Pagan holiday Samhain (pronounces Sow-in). This holiday fell on the day of October 31st. Samhain was the division of the year between summer and winter. Also, at Samhain the Celts believed the division between this world and the underworld was at its thinnest allowing spirits to pass through the veil. And, as the sun descended into the underworld, the forces of the underworld were able to rise for the night. "Halloween: An Evolving American Consumption Ritual" by Russell W. Belk he explains why money and consumption are so important to Halloween and also explains some of its origins, he says on Samhain night, the ghosts of the dead emerged and visited their old homes. Witches and goblins with mischievous, or malevolent intent also roamed the earth. (Belk, 508) The Celts would honor and invite the spirits of the deceased ancestors into their home whilst harmful spirits were warded off. People wore costumes and masks to disguise themselves as harmful spirits and thus avoid harm. In 835 A.D., Pope Gregory IV designated November 1st as All Saints Day, or All Hallows' Day (the term "hallo" refers to saints). The night before November 1st, October 31, was known as All Hallows' Evening. Halloween falls on the last day of October because the Solemnity of All Saints, or “All Hallows,” falls on November 1. The feast in honor of all the saints in heaven used to be celebrated on May 13, but Pope Gregory III moved it to November 1, the dedication day of All Saints Chapel in St. Peter’s at Rome. Later, in the 840s, Pope Gregory IV commanded that All Saints be observed everywhere. (Belk, 509)
Many of these people held feasts honoring the dead and the living. But as we move from this time to the early 1800's and 1900's Halloween was a holiday of joy. In the book "Halloween From Pagan Ritual to Party Night" by Nicholas Rogers. He explains how Halloween has changed from the Pagans to today's world and how the media and the consumers market has changed the Holiday. He states at this time in history Halloween was a night of courtship, young teens and adults would dress up and try to find their one true love, even on this fearful night. One of the many activities from this night was bobbing for apples. Watching the way stones settle in the fire, nuts cracked in heat and or kale stalked pulled from the ground. Were "windows" in to the future on this night. (Rodgers, 43). In the early 20th century Halloween was almost banished from the American soil. The saying "Trick or Treat" was taken to the extreme. The tolerance for Halloween rowdiness wore very thin in these years one report states that a group of young men moved an outhouse to "rougher grounds", another report states an estimated $1,500.00 of damage was done to fences and sidewalks in a Canadian town. Some towns claimed "gangs" of youth would ransack store fronts, sidewalks, and fences. In 1907, over two hundred youth found themselves in court after the holiday's enjoyments. (Rogers 59-60) City council men, academic administration and parents attempted during the 1930's and 1940's to find solutions to the problem of vandalism at this time. Many found Halloween dances and other activities at schools, city halls, churches and even hospitals as a solution. In 1945, it was in the cities best interest to make Halloween a dating ritual rather than an occasion to cause trouble. (Rogers 86). Thus, going back to the roots of Halloween a dating and courtship day/night. Trick-or-Treating was a sought-after solution to "fix" the vandalism problem. Hopefully exchanging treats for the luck of not being tricked/vandalized. But many would argue that the Trick-or-Treating was one of the many ways that the candy companies tried to get the upper hand in a consumer's world. (Levinson, Mack 222)
With Christmas and Easter, the "heavy weights" per say of the retail world. Halloween was not far behind on the list to make a retail and commercialized holiday. Marketers and retailers are always searching for the new trend of the year. In "Halloween as a consumption Experience" by Stacey Levinson, Stacey Mack, Dan Reinhardt, Helen Suarez and Grace Yeh. This article looks at how the consumers are treated and how they react to different stores and different shopping experiences at Halloween retail stores in the northeastern united states, and the authors found that Halloween companies searched and found that people were not going to put pumpkins in their yard if they were not the biggest ones on the block. So, they came up with giant leaf filled plastic sack pumpkins. (Levinson, Mack 222) In "Halloween in a Material World: Trick-or-Treat" the authors researched how retailers and the consumers markets has changed how we celebrate Halloween. They state in today's world, children are wanting to buy the best and most popular costumes. It did not matter that these costumes are increasingly being purchased instead of home-made. (McKenchnie, Tynan 1018) In today's world size matters, especially candy. The candy industry holds this ground at this time of Halloween. Jack Santino in his article "Halloween in America: Contemporary Customs and Performances" he stated that there are a lot of attempts to commercialize and over exceed the last years expectations with Halloween each year, although these are not overly successful: according to one report, Halloween ranks eighth among holidays in terms of numbers of greeting cards sold. So, each Halloween company must produce the best Costumes and to attempt to license popular characters such as Spider Man and E.T., and, of course, candy manufacturers who try to find a produce the best each and every year. (Santino 17)
Halloween continues to grow each and every year which could very well cause problems, such as health and safety issues. As "The Razor Blade in the Apple Syndrome" by Joel Best and Gerald T. Horiuchi reports from 1969 to 1971 a wave of reports looked for national recognition of Halloween sadism as a threat. As a holiday when millions of children venture out at night, Halloween has a history of tragic accidents. Routinely, newspapers and magazines print lists of safety tips, warning parents to check candy, stay with their children, wear reflective gear, and always to stay in the light. Children are urged to refuse homemade treats and accept only mass-produced candy with intact wrappings. (Best, Horiuchi 489) According to "Razor Blade in the Apple" there have only been 76 reported incidents from 1959 to1984. (Santino 489) in 1970 the first reported death of a five-year-old boy was reported after him eating a heroin laced apple. (Rogers 90) Because of these threats to health parents wanted a safe way that for their kids to still enjoy the holiday so in 1956 almost 7,500 communities in the united states and Canada helped UNICEF and collected over $792,000 for their fund. (Rogers 88) In 1982 it was reported that the candy manufactures spend an estimated $400,000 in an attempt to dispel the publics fear of poisoning. But in spite of all the money spent candy sells dropped that year by almost 20%. (Rogers 92) McDonalds at this time took advantage of the situation and people handed out coupons on Halloween night to Trick-or-Treaters, and McDonalds increased in profit because of it and because people were scared that they might find poison or sharp objects in their children candy. (Levinson, Mack 226)
Year after year Halloween is celebrated with cheers, fears and sweet treats. This holiday has gone through some rough times. From dark and evil spirits roaming the streets, to young kids destroying things. And even in today's world people getting hurt by sadists. This holiday has gone through so many changes and it's because the big businesses want it that way. Halloween merchandise has always been available in stores. But with the highest degree of marketability today, retailers are becoming over powered by specialty stores or the "one stop" Halloween shop. (Levinson, Mack 222) Even Beer companies are trying to take advantage of this holiday. With October being one of their slowest months this month and holiday are a prime marketing day and resource. Miller brewing company created a glow-in-the-dark label, Anheuser Busch brewing company payed over a million dollars to give bar patrons masks on Halloween night. (Levinson, Mack 222) As stated by Levinson and Mack that Halloween has moved from its roots as a Pagan and Celtic holiday to a commercialized and retail holiday in the United States. (Levinson, Mack 222) Levinson points that we today are a materialistic people and we attribute that the more we have the better off we are. We strive to have the biggest and the best, and the retail companies know that and they prey upon it. (Levinson, Mack 223) Halloween has become a day where we can compromise, a day were men can dress like women or children can dress like adults. Retailers can see that and they feast upon it. (Levinson, Mack 226) Many people will argue that Halloween is pride holiday. A holiday where we only take and not give. And that this effects how we see and celebrate Halloween. (Levinson, Mack 227) The candy companies know they need the biggest and the best to get the most people to buy their candy so the children can take it. (Levinson, Mack 227) Ancient sacred meaning of this holiday have now and probably be forever over shadowed by today's world of "Money, Money, Money!" (Levinson, Mack 227)
Halloween has a long trail of tradition in the world. From the roots of an ancient holiday to celebrate the harvest and death. To today and "the bigger the candy bar the better." Halloween also has had a bumpy trail of Poison apples and vandalism by young Halloween celebrators. And the basic roots of Halloween a courtship day to look into the future with kale stalks and roasting nuts. Halloween has a long history and it will forever be changed by the consumers market and their greed of money. This is very clear that Halloween has changed scene the beginning, but there is still more research that needs to be done to find how we can fix this problem. Halloween is a day for the dead, but also a day for the living to enjoy well they still can in the flesh.
Work Cited
Belk, Russell W. "Halloween: An Evolving American Consumption Ritual." Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 17, no. 1, Jan. 1990, pp. 508-517. EBSCOhost.
Grider, Sylvia. "The razor blades in the apples syndrome." Perspect- ives on contemporary legend (1984): 128-49.
Harris, Garth. "A Halloween Community: The Role of the Marketplace in Response to Social Isolation." ACR North American Advances (2006).
Hoeh, Herman L. "Halloween Where Did it Come From?"
Stacey Levinson, Stacey Mack, Dan Reinhardt, and Helen Suarez, Grace Yeh (1992) ,"Halloween As a Consumption Experience", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 19, eds. John F. Sherry, Jr. and Brian Sternthal, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 219-228.
McKechnie, Sally, and Caroline Tynan. "Halloween in a material world: trick or treat?." Journal of Marketing Management 24.9-10 (2008): 1011-1023.
Rogers, Nicholas. Halloween: From pagan ritual to party night. Oxford University Press, 2002.
Santino, Jack. "Halloween in America: Contemporary customs and performances." Western Folklore 42.1 (1983): 1-20.
By: Ty Rowley
Have you ever felt an extra spook when the leaves begin to fall and the nights get longer? Have you ever been haunted by ghouls and ghosts around the spooky day of October 31st? It's the time of the harvest and the time that the weather gets colder and crops and plants begin to die. Creepy head stones, ghosts, witches, and monsters lie in your neighbor's yard or even on your own. During this time of the year, we as Americans hold many traditions near and dear to our hearts. At this time of the year Americans will spend billions of dollars on this holiday alone from candy, costumes and decorations. But, why is this holiday like this? Who changed the way we celebrate Halloween? During this article, we will discuss how the consumer market has changed Halloween.
The roots of this holiday originate from Paganism. In "Halloween; Where did it come from" by Herman L. Hoeh he explains the origins of Paginism and Halloween. The word "Pagan" comes from the Latin word "paganus", which means those who practiced a religion other than Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. Early Christians often used the term to refer to non-Christians who worshiped multiple deities. In Latin, "paganus" originally meant “country dweller", "civilian" or "those who live outside the city."(Hoeh 509). Halloween started as a Celtic or a Pagan holiday Samhain (pronounces Sow-in). This holiday fell on the day of October 31st. Samhain was the division of the year between summer and winter. Also, at Samhain the Celts believed the division between this world and the underworld was at its thinnest allowing spirits to pass through the veil. And, as the sun descended into the underworld, the forces of the underworld were able to rise for the night. "Halloween: An Evolving American Consumption Ritual" by Russell W. Belk he explains why money and consumption are so important to Halloween and also explains some of its origins, he says on Samhain night, the ghosts of the dead emerged and visited their old homes. Witches and goblins with mischievous, or malevolent intent also roamed the earth. (Belk, 508) The Celts would honor and invite the spirits of the deceased ancestors into their home whilst harmful spirits were warded off. People wore costumes and masks to disguise themselves as harmful spirits and thus avoid harm. In 835 A.D., Pope Gregory IV designated November 1st as All Saints Day, or All Hallows' Day (the term "hallo" refers to saints). The night before November 1st, October 31, was known as All Hallows' Evening. Halloween falls on the last day of October because the Solemnity of All Saints, or “All Hallows,” falls on November 1. The feast in honor of all the saints in heaven used to be celebrated on May 13, but Pope Gregory III moved it to November 1, the dedication day of All Saints Chapel in St. Peter’s at Rome. Later, in the 840s, Pope Gregory IV commanded that All Saints be observed everywhere. (Belk, 509)
Many of these people held feasts honoring the dead and the living. But as we move from this time to the early 1800's and 1900's Halloween was a holiday of joy. In the book "Halloween From Pagan Ritual to Party Night" by Nicholas Rogers. He explains how Halloween has changed from the Pagans to today's world and how the media and the consumers market has changed the Holiday. He states at this time in history Halloween was a night of courtship, young teens and adults would dress up and try to find their one true love, even on this fearful night. One of the many activities from this night was bobbing for apples. Watching the way stones settle in the fire, nuts cracked in heat and or kale stalked pulled from the ground. Were "windows" in to the future on this night. (Rodgers, 43). In the early 20th century Halloween was almost banished from the American soil. The saying "Trick or Treat" was taken to the extreme. The tolerance for Halloween rowdiness wore very thin in these years one report states that a group of young men moved an outhouse to "rougher grounds", another report states an estimated $1,500.00 of damage was done to fences and sidewalks in a Canadian town. Some towns claimed "gangs" of youth would ransack store fronts, sidewalks, and fences. In 1907, over two hundred youth found themselves in court after the holiday's enjoyments. (Rogers 59-60) City council men, academic administration and parents attempted during the 1930's and 1940's to find solutions to the problem of vandalism at this time. Many found Halloween dances and other activities at schools, city halls, churches and even hospitals as a solution. In 1945, it was in the cities best interest to make Halloween a dating ritual rather than an occasion to cause trouble. (Rogers 86). Thus, going back to the roots of Halloween a dating and courtship day/night. Trick-or-Treating was a sought-after solution to "fix" the vandalism problem. Hopefully exchanging treats for the luck of not being tricked/vandalized. But many would argue that the Trick-or-Treating was one of the many ways that the candy companies tried to get the upper hand in a consumer's world. (Levinson, Mack 222)
With Christmas and Easter, the "heavy weights" per say of the retail world. Halloween was not far behind on the list to make a retail and commercialized holiday. Marketers and retailers are always searching for the new trend of the year. In "Halloween as a consumption Experience" by Stacey Levinson, Stacey Mack, Dan Reinhardt, Helen Suarez and Grace Yeh. This article looks at how the consumers are treated and how they react to different stores and different shopping experiences at Halloween retail stores in the northeastern united states, and the authors found that Halloween companies searched and found that people were not going to put pumpkins in their yard if they were not the biggest ones on the block. So, they came up with giant leaf filled plastic sack pumpkins. (Levinson, Mack 222) In "Halloween in a Material World: Trick-or-Treat" the authors researched how retailers and the consumers markets has changed how we celebrate Halloween. They state in today's world, children are wanting to buy the best and most popular costumes. It did not matter that these costumes are increasingly being purchased instead of home-made. (McKenchnie, Tynan 1018) In today's world size matters, especially candy. The candy industry holds this ground at this time of Halloween. Jack Santino in his article "Halloween in America: Contemporary Customs and Performances" he stated that there are a lot of attempts to commercialize and over exceed the last years expectations with Halloween each year, although these are not overly successful: according to one report, Halloween ranks eighth among holidays in terms of numbers of greeting cards sold. So, each Halloween company must produce the best Costumes and to attempt to license popular characters such as Spider Man and E.T., and, of course, candy manufacturers who try to find a produce the best each and every year. (Santino 17)
Halloween continues to grow each and every year which could very well cause problems, such as health and safety issues. As "The Razor Blade in the Apple Syndrome" by Joel Best and Gerald T. Horiuchi reports from 1969 to 1971 a wave of reports looked for national recognition of Halloween sadism as a threat. As a holiday when millions of children venture out at night, Halloween has a history of tragic accidents. Routinely, newspapers and magazines print lists of safety tips, warning parents to check candy, stay with their children, wear reflective gear, and always to stay in the light. Children are urged to refuse homemade treats and accept only mass-produced candy with intact wrappings. (Best, Horiuchi 489) According to "Razor Blade in the Apple" there have only been 76 reported incidents from 1959 to1984. (Santino 489) in 1970 the first reported death of a five-year-old boy was reported after him eating a heroin laced apple. (Rogers 90) Because of these threats to health parents wanted a safe way that for their kids to still enjoy the holiday so in 1956 almost 7,500 communities in the united states and Canada helped UNICEF and collected over $792,000 for their fund. (Rogers 88) In 1982 it was reported that the candy manufactures spend an estimated $400,000 in an attempt to dispel the publics fear of poisoning. But in spite of all the money spent candy sells dropped that year by almost 20%. (Rogers 92) McDonalds at this time took advantage of the situation and people handed out coupons on Halloween night to Trick-or-Treaters, and McDonalds increased in profit because of it and because people were scared that they might find poison or sharp objects in their children candy. (Levinson, Mack 226)
Year after year Halloween is celebrated with cheers, fears and sweet treats. This holiday has gone through some rough times. From dark and evil spirits roaming the streets, to young kids destroying things. And even in today's world people getting hurt by sadists. This holiday has gone through so many changes and it's because the big businesses want it that way. Halloween merchandise has always been available in stores. But with the highest degree of marketability today, retailers are becoming over powered by specialty stores or the "one stop" Halloween shop. (Levinson, Mack 222) Even Beer companies are trying to take advantage of this holiday. With October being one of their slowest months this month and holiday are a prime marketing day and resource. Miller brewing company created a glow-in-the-dark label, Anheuser Busch brewing company payed over a million dollars to give bar patrons masks on Halloween night. (Levinson, Mack 222) As stated by Levinson and Mack that Halloween has moved from its roots as a Pagan and Celtic holiday to a commercialized and retail holiday in the United States. (Levinson, Mack 222) Levinson points that we today are a materialistic people and we attribute that the more we have the better off we are. We strive to have the biggest and the best, and the retail companies know that and they prey upon it. (Levinson, Mack 223) Halloween has become a day where we can compromise, a day were men can dress like women or children can dress like adults. Retailers can see that and they feast upon it. (Levinson, Mack 226) Many people will argue that Halloween is pride holiday. A holiday where we only take and not give. And that this effects how we see and celebrate Halloween. (Levinson, Mack 227) The candy companies know they need the biggest and the best to get the most people to buy their candy so the children can take it. (Levinson, Mack 227) Ancient sacred meaning of this holiday have now and probably be forever over shadowed by today's world of "Money, Money, Money!" (Levinson, Mack 227)
Halloween has a long trail of tradition in the world. From the roots of an ancient holiday to celebrate the harvest and death. To today and "the bigger the candy bar the better." Halloween also has had a bumpy trail of Poison apples and vandalism by young Halloween celebrators. And the basic roots of Halloween a courtship day to look into the future with kale stalks and roasting nuts. Halloween has a long history and it will forever be changed by the consumers market and their greed of money. This is very clear that Halloween has changed scene the beginning, but there is still more research that needs to be done to find how we can fix this problem. Halloween is a day for the dead, but also a day for the living to enjoy well they still can in the flesh.
Work Cited
Belk, Russell W. "Halloween: An Evolving American Consumption Ritual." Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 17, no. 1, Jan. 1990, pp. 508-517. EBSCOhost.
Grider, Sylvia. "The razor blades in the apples syndrome." Perspect- ives on contemporary legend (1984): 128-49.
Harris, Garth. "A Halloween Community: The Role of the Marketplace in Response to Social Isolation." ACR North American Advances (2006).
Hoeh, Herman L. "Halloween Where Did it Come From?"
Stacey Levinson, Stacey Mack, Dan Reinhardt, and Helen Suarez, Grace Yeh (1992) ,"Halloween As a Consumption Experience", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 19, eds. John F. Sherry, Jr. and Brian Sternthal, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 219-228.
McKechnie, Sally, and Caroline Tynan. "Halloween in a material world: trick or treat?." Journal of Marketing Management 24.9-10 (2008): 1011-1023.
Rogers, Nicholas. Halloween: From pagan ritual to party night. Oxford University Press, 2002.
Santino, Jack. "Halloween in America: Contemporary customs and performances." Western Folklore 42.1 (1983): 1-20.