Happy Halloween! In August!
As you may know if you've dropped in before, I get irked by seasonal products arriving way in advance of the... seasonal season. In 2017 I blew my stack over Easter candy in the store on January 1, a full 105 days before Easter. This past week I saw the Halloween candy in the local supermarket and the wholesale club on the first of August, 91 days before Halloween. So that Easter display still has the record for the most inappropriate date display, plus it leaped over Valentine's Day, but this one is close.
I just don't get it.
I mean, I know people like candy -- Hey! I like candy! -- and I know people like holidays. And I know the only real holiday between now and Halloween is Labor Day, and Labor Day is supported by socialists, and socialism destroys economic goods, so you can't have Labor Day candy.
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| Well, there's this, but I wouldn't trust it. |
By why does our candy have to be holiday-centered? We live in the richest country in the world's history! We have non-holiday candy around all the time! The fun sizes aren't even limited to holiday editions! It's great! Why must we demand inappropriately timed confections? I could blame the stores, but if we weren't buying it, they wouldn't be selling it yet.
We all know that if you "stock up" on Halloween candy on August 1 that even the Hershey's Special Darks will not live to see September.
What's the advantage? The only way this makes any sense to me is if people just think holiday candy is in some way better or cheaper. That has not been my experience. If you have any insight, hit me in the comments or at frederick_key AT yahoo dot com. I just don't get it.
🎃🍫🎃🍫🎃🍫🎃
P.S.: The lovely and talented Mrs. Key suggested that companies should design some "back to school" themed candies, since everyone else has been pushing "back to school" stuff for weeks already anyway. Candy Warehouse has some things along those lines, like school bus-shaped dispensers and crayon-shaped candies -- but she's right, the big companies are not serving that market.
I suggest that Hershey's bring back combat candy for kids going off to college, to help those who discover they ate the whole cafeteria plan for the week by Wednesday. Freshman fifteen, you know.
The mystery is why people buy it. That people buy it explains why companies make/market it. Putting it out early extends the buying season. Marketing Majors think sales are a function of time. (Mostly as an excuse for under-performance, as in, "It was a short selling season.") Longer selling seasons mean higher forecasts which mean longer packaging runs which is why Manufacturing goes along.
ReplyDeleteWhy do people 'fall' for this? Maybe they just don't care (the optimistic interpretation) or maybe they want an excuse to buy more candy (the cynical interpretation) or maybe they react to the pretty packaging (the interpretation favored by Marketing Majors everywhere.)