The holiday season, known for its festive ornaments and traditions, is also known to be the time of year in which people spend thousands of dollars on gifts and decorations. Thousands of houses are decorated and millions of wish lists are made all around the world. Despite this being a very old tradition, the amount of items being bought has increased substantially in recent years due to new ways that brands have found to promote their products. 

By creating holiday-themed campaigns and offers, brands attract the attention of many shoppers. Companies provide gift bundles and discount certain products only for the holiday season as a way to appeal to customers. The reason behind this is that small businesses rely on the last months of the year to meet their annual goals. Company owners are aware of the importance of having high sales around Christmas and are willing to try as many techniques as needed. 

A new marketing strategy has emerged with the rise in popularity of social media. Online platforms are filled with advertisements and collaborations brands have made with content creators with a large following as a way to spread their products amongst young generations. For instance, brands such as Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Amazon, and many more have used social networking to their advantage and have made it a tradition to release annual advertisements that consumers look forward to. These types of successful marketing strategies encourage materialism among teenagers. According to CNBC, the average American spends around $1,500 every holiday season, which is almost twice the amount they would have spent in the 1990s. 

Companies have caught on to the pattern and have created new ways to make it even more profitable. Black Friday, for instance, is a day known around the world for its highly promoted products and hundreds of discounts and sales. It takes place the day after Thanksgiving and it marks the beginning of Christmas shopping. With its large sales and discounts, Black Friday has quickly become a day that the entire world looks forward to. Due to its huge success, other events similar to it have emerged, the most recent being Cyber Monday, which occurs the Monday after Thanksgiving.  It consists of online shops offering big sales the price of products and shipping. Cyber Monday is becoming more and more popular with the increase in online shopping. Brands such as Target, T-Mobile, Walmart, and others have participated in both of these events in past years and have increased their sales around the holidays because of it. 

Here at BHS, students have different opinions. While some agree that Christmas is a time of shopping and gift-giving, others think that the amount of purchases being made nowadays is excessive. 

For instance, Gracie Mongno ‘27 states that in her opinion, “Christmas should be more about who you are with and less about materialistic things.” However, some think that the tradition of excessive gift-giving is what makes the holiday season so special. Another student, Gia Gomez ‘27 believes that “Spending money for those you love is spreading the joy of Christmas.”

It is undeniable that gift exchange, decorations, and spending money will always be a fundamental part of Christmas. However, if modern-day society continues to be so careless about the effects that these traditions have on the future, it they could end up causing more damage than good.