A Materialized Holiday

Today, there is so much pressure about buying the right gift that parents are setting their children up for disappointment. Children love the aspect of looking through catalogs or online and creating a massive wish list to give to their parents and Santa Claus! By parents giving into these wishes and getting children everything on their wish list, children expect the same thing to happen every year making the holiday season more and more materialistic.

Christmas in Canada has grown to be such a materialistic holiday. Children (for the most part) are solely focused on presents and what will be under the tree on Christmas morning. Adults are more focused on the "giving" part of Christmas and create so much debt over the holidays buying unnecessary presents for the people in their lives. Every individual has a different purchasing behaviour and will respond to the concept of gift giving in different ways, some behaviours will create a positive effects while others will have a negative effect.



After thinking about the holidays and the tradition of gift giving, I asked myself - why do people give gifts in the first place? More importantly, how does gift giving drive my consumer behavior? For many, gift giving expresses a sense of gratitude but parents are going overboard with gifts that presents become the focal point of the holidays.

Another aspect that contributes to the materialistic aspect of Christmas and gift giving is advertisements. Whether it be on TV, the newspaper, the radio or magazines, advertising is telling people what they need to buy and influencing their purchasing behavior. Every year, there tends to be one toy that every child must have. This sense of need is created by advertising and these advertisement affect both children and adults by creating the perception that a particular toy is so important and must be found under the Christmas tree.  I remember when the Tickle-Me Elmo was the must have gift of the season and parents would do absolutely anything to get their hands on this gift so that their children were not disappointed on Christmas. This gift was meant for young children so the advertisement was aimed at the parents. Through proper advertising techniques, parents believed that they had to get this toy for their child or else would feel a sense of disappointment. I know that still to this day, the method and timing of an advertisement can greatly influence my decision or desire to purchase a product.

In my opinion, parents need to start teaching their children the main meaning of Christmas and demonstrate that it is not all about the presents under the tree. Yes sure, gift giving has become a very large part of the holiday season but consumer behaviour is driving this need to buy and give gifts. Today's young generation doesn't seem to care about anything other than gifts and have become increasingly greedy. As good as it may feel to be able to give these gifts during the holidays, families need to teach children that gifts are not everything if we want to keep the roots of the holiday season grounded in society.