my bright idea: re-branding christmas!
now, where was i . . . right.
speaking of christmas, i came up with a fantastic idea at work today.
we should re-brand christmas!
seriously! who's with me? christmas has branched beyond the 'holiday season' we all grew up with, historically stretching from thanksgiving to christmas day. thanks to CorporateAmerica, we now have christmas-themed commercials, mall decorations, and people putting up their lights a few days after halloween.
yes.
my brother and i were driving to my house on sunday night, and stopped dead in the road a few blocks from my street. there, with our own eyes, we saw a neighbor hanging up his christmas lights, with them lit and everything. these were not thanksgiving lights, nor were they halloween lights coming down. "no way," we thought. but there, up on the rooftop, were eight reindeer pulling santa in his sleigh. [there were eight, right?]
anyways, back to my point.
think about how many times you've had to re-write your holiday cards, not sure if your coworker celebrates christmas. or how many times you've wanted to have a christmas party, but had to change all the decorations and the invitation to be "politically correct." now, anytime someone sees a pine tree or a gift box, we think 'christmas.' even snowmen are toeing the line of being "holiday appropriate."
add to this the commercialization and Hallmark-ization of the holiday, and a time traveller from even as recent as the last century [just go with it, folks] would not recognize the holiday. as with the worst culprit, easter, christmas has come to reflect the "holiday spirit" instead of the religious reason for having the holiday in the first place.
as you all know, i'm jewish, and proud of it. but i love christmas - or at least the version we have today. i've gone to a few families' celebrations, and each one is unique and rich in traditions. even with the Revels, i get to celebrate the Winter Solstice with friends and family [yes, you are family, so smile and nod] with song, food, drink, and merryment. what's not to love?
but as a 'good jewish girl,' celebrating christmas is a bit taboo. and for all the other people from all the other religions and cultures that do not typically celebrate christmas, it's a bit taboo, too.
hence why i think we should re-brand christmas.
the current connotation does not reflect the original message. when we think of christmas, what do we think of first? the birth of Jesus, or "what am i going to get mom/dad/brother/sister/aunt/uncle/etc this year?" heading off to church for prayer, or planning the perfect feast for the family? the hardships of life in those times, or what color lights to hang on the house this year? right.
so, what do advertisers do when a product is not selling well or isn't reaching the demographic it originally intended? change something! re-write copy! create a new look! give it a new message! re-brand it!
if we gave christmas a complete makeover, could we effectively market it solely as a holiday that celebrates cheer, good will, love, and most importantly, family? a holiday that has no religious ties . . . or that encompasses all religions? a time of year where we put aside differences and come together in peace? a moment when we don't need to spend our entire life savings on 'things' and instead spend precious moments of our lives together?
for those of you fuming at your screens, try to see it from my angle.
christmas is pretty exclusive, and yet it's such an amazing time of year.
why not find a way to share it with everyone?
**
i, for one, am all for re-branding christmas.
feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.
but remember, i'm looking to re-brand it in peace.
please hold the same respect to me and to other commenters.
Comments
Being on the opposite side of your argument I agree as well. I'm cool with a non-religious holiday that promotes sharing, caring, appreciation, reflection, etc.
I don't agree or like with what Christmas has become and I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who thinks differently (with the exception of people making tons of money off the holiday).
But as Will said, not to be pessimistic but it won't happen. It's a cash cow. We've made changes in our family though, we do celebrate the birth of Christ, we limit or gifts, we stay away from the malls and commercialism as much as possible, we hand make gifts (Laura's knitting like a mad woman)... There are ways to avoid what "CA" wants you to fall into and recreate the holiday for yourself.
Speaking strictly from a marketing aspect, with regards to rebranding, it wouldn't be possible for a handful of reasons. Number one, we have reached a point where the general population sees the holiday only as a gift-oriented event. Two, the entire retail sector would fight tooth and nail against any sort of change from "Yay Presents!" to "Wow, Meaning!" Three, the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy has gone to great lengths to show that everyone is against Christmas for the sole fact that groups have tried to make it more widely-accepted, claiming that ignoring the inclusion of Christian Religion amounts to welcoming Stanic influences. Lastly, and likely the most caustic (also the reason I opted to send this as a message), is that there is a high likelihood that mainstream Religion would fight any attempt to make the holiday all-encompassing, because they would no longer have a foothold in the fight to maintain "their" h! oliday. As long as people on both sides will fight for "christmas" or "Christmas" or "X-mas," mainstream Religion will always be a big part of the discussion, and as a result, gain a lot of attention.
Specifically on rebranding, imagine for a moment the (far-flung) scenario in which Ford makes a car that runs on old plastic bottles, but just for this example, only goes 85 miles an hour. Upper management may fight to rebrand the company from an environmental aspect. Investors will fight the rebrand because it only goes 85mph, because Ford makes the Mustang, which they consider a Muscle Car. The general public will disregard the rebrand because Ford celebrated the release of the Excursion, which was invincible because it was basically a school bus with less seats and worse gas mileage. The end result would be a combination of the investor view and the public opinion. Essentially, Ford would take this magnificent vehicle than runs on old plastic bottles, and release it only in limited quantities, opting instead for the Ford WasteBottle SRX Shelby Turbo, which wouldn't run on old bottles, but gasoline, and only get about 21mpg.
Rebranding only works for something that has either been around for a short time, or hasn't garnered enough public passion to fight the rebrand. Sad as it may seem, December 25 will forever be known as the holiday when a jolly fat guy brings gifts, and people on all sides of the aisle fight to maintain their definition, for good or ill.
We called it Holidarious. We spent months working out the ideas of Holidarious, making it as accessible for everyone as we could.
It was secular, not consumer oriented, and based around family and friends.
It took place over three nights; although I can't remember what one of the nights was for anymore. The first night was a movie night; the second night was a party.
I used to have a website for it that explained it much better. Maybe I'll try and dig out all my old notes and site info and make it a post.
the most prevalent reason it won't work is the 'money' factor, and unfortunately, that's the factor demanding the change in the first place. it's interesting to see how it affects something as simple [or complex] as a holiday, and how parasitic it can become.
i'm glad to see that many of you have taken different angles than the 'typical' for the holiday, and i hope that maybe this will help inspire you and your families to focus on the intent and message of the holiday instead of the consumer-driven aspects. change happens one person at a time - we each can make a difference.
and, since drugstores and malls across america are already blasting holiday music and sporting wreaths and reindeer . . . happy holiday season! :)