Halloween in America
Jul 12th, 2009 by Benedict Fisher
Although some places in the U.S. don’t really celebrate Halloween, it is still one of the most famous holidays in the country. When it comes to commercial potential, Halloween is just behind Christmas in popularity and commercial potential.
Commercial quality
Halloween is not only popular with kids alone. The Halloween festivities are popular with a wide variety of adult communities around the world. Since a New York Times columnist already declared that, the world is flat, international parades like The Greenwich Village Halloween parade attracts over a million people on a yearly basis.
Halloween not only gives an excuse for people to wear silly outfits and entertain people, but it also helps the local economy a lot. The Greenwich Village Halloween parade even contributes as much as 60 million dollars in one year. Because of its contribution to the local economy, even religious societies are willing to help just to keep the holiday as big as it is.
The U.S. and Canada
Halloween festivities in Canada produce an outstanding estimate of 700 million dollars. Each family in the U.S. is estimated to spend an average of 45 dollars on Halloween products and festivities. And for those lucky high-salary people, the amount goes up.
The Halloween festivities generate around 6.8 billion dollars for the U.S. economy. Popular products for Halloween are:
- Candies/Chocolates
- Costumes
- Greeting Cards
- Party Supplies
Stress relief
It’s a well-known fact that Halloween is that time of the year when people could let off a little pent-up steam. Often, it doesn’t matter anymore what the celebrations are really for. All that people know is that they can go to rave parties, drink, and party all night.
Ultimately, it is safe to say that Halloween continues to be celebrated mainly because of the adult appropriation of the celebration. Without the commercialization of the celebration, it would’ve most likely been forgotten. With all the negative aspects of its origin, it seems that this ancient-rooted celebration will only survive in the modern times by associating it with more acceptable and enjoyable aspects of life.
Problems
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
- Alcohol use
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.
When people are intoxicated, they lose their inhibitions. This means that rational thinking goes out of the door. It is a fact that Halloween parties are not very wholesome. Halloween seems to be the complete opposite of the Christmas season.
The stronghold of Halloween is still North America; however, this does not mean that it’s not being exported to the global south. It’s not unusual to see countries with no mass memory of the celebration to start buying Halloween-themed products and commodities.
In the U.K., Halloween sees its popularity rise each year.
