Impacts of Holiday Consumerism
Starbucks holiday merchandise and sales (Photo: Marissa Caesare, The Puma Prensa)
By Marissa Caesare, staff writer and Nora Trif, staff writer
As we approach the holiday season, stores receive seasonal products and immediately put them on display to lure shoppers in for “limited time only” products. While each season of giving takes its course, we see a plethora of new products hit the market, encouraging every person passing by to spend their money on a $20 fall scented candle, or pairs of Christmas themed fuzzy socks which were just reduced in price from $24.99 to $19.99. Though we all know and love the spirit and unity which comes along with finding the best gift available for your loved ones each holiday, is it really worth giving in to the consumerist tactics that many stores exercise?
As the years go by, it seems that the influx of new holiday product ideas in different shopping places has caused an increase in consumerism. According to management consulting company Deloitte, American households in 2018 invested an average of $1,536 on holiday spending for the duration of the Christmas season. Another shocking statistic regarding holiday spending habits from Deloitte states that US holiday retail sales totaled more than $1.1 trillion dollars in 2019, accounting for more than a quarter of the entire year’s retail revenues.
Not only is consumerism spending during the holidays leading to harm on the environment such as pollution and destruction of trees for paper items such festive packaging and wrapping paper, but it also has so many other downsides which harms the functionality of our society as a whole. With products continuously being bought, it encourages and enforces the development of lower-quality products at the price of labor workers’ overall health and livelihood. Let’s take a look at Shein, for example. According to a report from the Retail Gazette, Shein workers only get paid $0.03 for every item which is being made, whether that be a sweater, boots, or a scarf. Workers are being pressured to work up to 18 hours a day, no weekends included. This is harmful towards workers as they are said to receive little to no breaks while they are being continuously overworked for items which are known to not be of great quality towards its buyers. Through this perspective, there is a “lose-lose” situation where both the consumers and the workers are not getting any bang for their buck.
While extreme consumer spending can cause negative effects like overworked and underpaid laborers, there can be benefits to the amounts of holiday spending and the sense of unity that the holiday brings. Because of the sentimental feelings shared and the idea of giving back, many people will donate to charity more often and volunteer for different places in need of help, such as soup kitchens. According to a survey produced by World Vision, more than three in five Americans—63% usually donate to an organization or charitable cause in the last two weeks of the year.
Charities are not the only place that benefit from holiday consumerism. East Bay-raised Paul Garavaglia runs a Christmas tree farm in Sebastopol that goes by the name of Reindeer Ridge. Garavaglia has been running the farm for over 25 years, where his most popular trees sold are Oregon grown and consumer friendly. Garavaglia uses the environmentally conscious water-conserving method of rain catching, where he collects rain water from his gutter to water the trees; he does this in attempt to conserve water and decrease the tree farm’s carbon footprint best he can, as he notes that climate change has negatively impacted the farm over the years, causing trees to dry up and lose their color. Regardless, it is not often we see places targeted towards holiday consumers that have so much regard for the environment around this time of year.
However, Garavaglia’s business is not immune to the upsurge in hungry holiday shoppers. He has noticed a shift in customer patterns over the years, as he mentions that peak time for Christmas tree shopping has gone back earlier and earlier. It has gone so far to the point that peak shopping season is normally around the first opening weeks, rather than shoppers coming gradually throughout the holiday season. He notes that many shoppers are willing to pay surprisingly high amounts depending on where they have traveled from to get their tree. We see this phenomenon of Christmas shopping starting earlier in many instances with retail stores, too, where Christmas decorations and products are put out just about when Halloween ends, encouraging customers to start to think about Christmas spending, almost disregarding Thanksgiving as a whole. Garavaglia, however, does not open his farm to customers until Thanksgiving weekend.
With this recurring consumer trend in mind, it’s hard not to see the pattern that big chain corporations, unlike Garavaglia’s family-run farm, are deemphasizing the sentimental value of the holiday season by encouraging people to spend copious amounts of money on presents and decor, exploiting the season rather than cherishing it. It is key that celebrating consumers do not fall victim to dangerous spending habits encouraged by many stores that lure shoppers in, and instead focus on enjoying and savoring the holidays.
Furthermore, if you do celebrate, our suggestion is to shop mindfully when making holiday purchases, and to try to enjoy the season with gratitude and graciousness. Spend time with loved ones, show your appreciation to those you care about by giving them the gift of quality time. Donate to local charities, volunteer at places in need of assistance, and be conscious of all that you have to be grateful for.