It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Or is it? If you’ve been to any grocery store, department store, or shopping center parking lot you realize the holiday season is in full swing. Just as store owners decorate their buildings with green garland, red bows, and glittering snowflakes, mass marketers are beginning to release their own holiday-themed commercials, special offers, and shopping experiences. However, according to AdAge’s article “‘Christmas’ Winning War on Christmas in Marketing Messages,” this year consumers should except to see more brands featuring Christmas-specific ads than in years past. This shift away from generic seasonal greetings is a key development in the “War on Christmas” that has been raging between consumers and marketers for years now.
The same political debate comes around every year: “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays?” While one is politically correct, the other may be more appealing to the majority of consumers. Marketers and retailers have to make this decision each year, in hopes of not garnering too much criticism from either side. This debate is so heated that there are several interest groups, such as the American Family Association (AFA), which are the leading advocates for the use of Christmas in marketing messaging. Each year the AFA produces a list of “Companies Against Christmas” and encourages consumers to boycott shopping at certain retailers due to their anti-Christmas messaging. This year the AFA is specifically targeting Dick’s Sporting Goods and their online “Holiday Shop”. The AFA sent an alert to 2.3 million consumers on Friday encouraging them to boycott shopping at Dick’s and to email the COO and CMO about the issue. Interestingly enough, this consumer ploy may have worked because as of today, DicksSportingGoods.com has renamed its online hub the “Christmas Shop”.
Some other retailers that have made the switch from “Holiday” to “Christmas” include Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, and Gap. The AFA says that the percentage of retailers including Christmas in their marketing messages has increased from 20% to 80% in the past five years. This is an enormous leap considering just years ago I remember having to shop for “holiday trees” and “holiday sweaters.” This significant switch back to Christmas messaging in such little time must be fueled by something more than a couple interest organizations like the AFA. Ultimately, I think this switch in holiday messaging boils down to a key consumer insight: More consumers are offended by not seeing Christmas-specific messaging than those who are offended by it.
When most retailers began announcing “Happy Holidays” and “Seasons Greetings” years ago to avoid alienating non-Christmas-celebrating shoppers, they ended up angering those shoppers who do celebrate Christmas and who also contribute to the majority of winter-time sales. According to a NRF/BigResearch survey, this year 91% of consumers will celebrate Christmas with only 5% celebrating Hanukkah and 2% celebrating Kwanzaa. While I agree that all religious holidays should be celebrated and acknowledged equally, as a marketer it is hard to ignore these numbers. When you hear that 91% of your consumer base celebrates Christmas and will be shopping at your stores for Christmas gifts, why would you invite them to your Holiday shop or solicit them with your winter deals? After all, Barnes & Noble, a company still on AFA’s “Companies Against Christmas” list has designed it’s online “Holiday Shop” with red and green text, holly leaves, glass ornaments, and jingle bells. While brands do have a responsibility to be politically correct, they are ultimately interested in growing sales and building customer loyalty. If saying “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays” will fetch higher sales and increased customer retention, it may be a smart move for brands this year, especially in this economy. Ultimately, it comes down to listening to consumers and responding to their concerns, which is the lesson that Dick’s Sporting Goods may have just learned before it was too late.
-Jacqueline Buff is a senior Business & Enterprise Management major with concentrations in Marketing and Arts Markets and an Art History minor.
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