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| Sssh! Forget about Charlie Brown! |
Beyond modern fables and Dr. Seuss, what do we have to learn from the Christmas season? Well, (1) it's expensive, (2) it's for children and (3) it's the most marketable time of year since Hallowe'en. Mattel, Hallmark, Sony and Haribo own the season -- all having equal shares.
We've got Mickey Mouse, we've got Peanuts and we've got the Grinch! All Christmas branding... and all as profitable for a single day a year as Facebook will be for an entire year of single days. But what happened to Santa and his elves? How about that portly bitch, Mrs. Claus? And of course, what happened to Jesus Christ? Wasn't it meant to be his birthday or something? Well, no, actually it was something the Church concocted to wax over the festival of Saturnalia... but with all this Christmas chicanery, who's keeping track?
Somehow I thought Jesus was born in June; what do I know, though? Quite frankly, Christmas started off as a pagan holiday and was re-branded, effectively, by the Christians... so is it really any wonder that media moguls and advertising gurus keep re-branding it to their own ends?
I've been told 'it's a Hallmark holiday' by many people... and true enough, it is. The capital, the overheads, the financial forecasts... they all make for a compelling *chingchingching* Debenhams, Next and Tesco -- or in the case of the latter, anywhere you can overpay for a good bit of turkey. 'Tis the season to by jolly? Well, yes, but your pocket book won't after you've splayed the fucker and forked out for whatever the Buzz Lightyear is, this year.
Mickey Mouse had his Scrooge, Charlie Brown had his pathetic Christmas tree and the Grinch had the same old lesson to learn antagonists and anti-heroes in his position always learn! The real lesson? For rewriting certain biblical parables, one can be re-gifted with everything they desire... seems strangely like selling ones soul to the Devil. But in a sense, it is, because after yet another incumbent Christmas advertising campaign, 2012, we're all that little bit more soulless!
