It's almost that time again that every drunk person loves best: St. Patrick's Day. I myself do not drink, and it seems like this holiday is only popular for one reason; alcohol consumption. Despite the fact that this holiday occurs sometimes in the middle of the week, it never fails that people will still get completely plastered. The city I grew up in even has a Pub Crawl downtown where every place sells beer for just $1 if you have a special cup.
Anyways, my gripe on this post is about Walmart. Walmart is evil, we all know that. I am still very guilty of shopping there because it's just easy to do, and any small businesses that may have been competing with Walmart are long gone from this area anyway. I have noticed something over the last several months that has me scratching my head. As I was walking by the front area of the store the other day, I noticed this set up(pictured above). That's right, hats, wigs and accessories. Yep, Walmart thinks you should dress up for St. Patrick's Day.
Furthermore, they did the same thing for Independence Day, Christmas and even Valentine's Day. Around Valentine's Day, Walmart had a setup for cupid clothes, bow and arrow sets and wings. Here's my question: Is Walmart trying to turn every holiday into Halloween? My answer is yes, without a doubt. It has become apparent that it is now Walmart's goal to get us all to dress up for each and every holiday.
I guess this makes them money, and they would do anything to make a dollar. They must be thinking that they can capitalize on each holiday in a Halloween sense, because at Halloween we all have so much fun dressing up in costumes and parading around like lunatics. The problem here, is that once you turn every holiday into the same basic idea, they will all become stale.
Each holiday that we celebrate here in the US has a unique quality about it that makes it fun for us. These are mostly commercial qualities and aspects that have little to do with the original meaning of the holiday itself; nonetheless we have fun with them in these ways. We give candy and cards on Valentine's Day, drink on St. Patrick's Day, set off fireworks on the Fourth of July and give presents at Christmas.
In fact, in some aspects, Walmart is trying to mix all of the ideas of each holiday into one corporate blitz that they unleash each holiday. They now have cards for each holiday, not just for kids but for adults. They also usually have special candy, cakes and desserts for each holiday right up front. If they could find a way to sell turkey to the masses on President's Day, Arbor Day, Earth Day or Labor Day, I think they would put 100% effort into it.
In fact, in some aspects, Walmart is trying to mix all of the ideas of each holiday into one corporate blitz that they unleash each holiday. They now have cards for each holiday, not just for kids but for adults. They also usually have special candy, cakes and desserts for each holiday right up front. If they could find a way to sell turkey to the masses on President's Day, Arbor Day, Earth Day or Labor Day, I think they would put 100% effort into it.
We don't need any added corporate melding and deflection from the original intentions of the days themselves and what we like to do for each one separately. While dressing up for Halloween is a lot of fun, that is what THAT holiday gives us to do; that is what makes Halloween special. If we started doing this for each holiday, it would become an over-done exercise, and Halloween would really lose its most redeeming quality. Cut it out Walmart, just sell your $5 t-shirts for each holiday and leave the dressing up to Halloween.
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