Commodification of the Season

            At the beginning of America’s longest holiday season, advertisements begin taking on a particular form. Around November, advertisers begin pushing a specific mindset, namely: treat yourself. Eat as much turkey as you want! It’s Thanksgiving! You deserve it. Don’t leave all the cookies for Santa; save a plate for yourself. This is a fun mentality for people. Calories don’t count on special occasions, after all. But the fun doesn't get to last. The second the presents are opened and dinner is finished, advertisers flip the switch.

            The end of Christmas leading into the beginning of the new year brings out a different side of advertisers. Look at how much you ate. Don’t you feel bad? Don’t you want to undo that? Start making resolutions. Join our gym. Eat our guilt-free, calorie-free, taste-free meals.

 

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 Why do we let advertisers do this? The main reason is that it is all we know. It is just "the way society works." Everyone knows that Thanksgiving and Christmas are all about big family dinners and everyone knows that you are supposed to create resolutions to ring in the new year (the fact that we did not manage to keep last year's resolutions is of no consequence). Advertisers can push almost anything they want during the holidays because they are playing upon traditions and norms. Anyone who suddenly stops attending the yearly family of something their ancestors probably did not do is suddenly seen by their family as strange and deviant. A friend who does not reciprocate gifts is a friend who will stop receiving gifts. To be part of society, we must participate in society's traditions in some way.

           We are conditioned to listen to advertisers, or at the very least consider what they are saying. As children, advertisements were how we learned about what products are out there and we learn to want things we do not already have. Even when we become aware of this fact, the effect does not necessarily wear off. We listen to the Thanksgiving and Christmas advertisements because they reflect what we want to hear. We listen to the New Year's advertisements because they reflect what we are worried about. 
            This all leaves us with a society that is in constant conflict with our bodies and this conflict leads us to consume more and more. This consumption comes with consequences. As some people buy into what ads are selling, other people have to work throughout the rest of the year to create the goods. Land has to be taken up to create places to create the goods. People have to work during the very same holidays that advertisers want them to participate in, or else the goods cannot be sold. It is a cycle and it is growing.

           I am by no means saying that we should stop participating in holidays, but maybe when November comes around again, we should take a step back and only buy what we personally want and not what outside pressure wants us to want.