Happy Hallo…what?!
Depending on how long you’ve been in and around advertising, you might realise that a particular
trend has emerged that’s even sillier than all the election season campaign gimmicks… something
that we’re calling bandwagon season!
Towards the end of this month, you’ll start seeing brands advertising spooky savings and frightfull
fantastic deals 🙁 And in certain neighbourhoods, you’ll also notice that we’ve started trick or
treating and even dressing up for costume parties. Halloween has hit T&T!
A quick Google search will confirm that Halloween is thought to be a pagan festival with Celtic
origins, but is also tied to Christian celebrations for departed souls. Which makes some sense,
considering we do celebrate All Saints and All Souls here — just not with jack o’lanterns, witches
and over priced sweets.
What’s even more interesting is that we have a rich folklore tradition here that we don’t celebrate. When was the last time you saw a kid dressed as a lagahoo begging for pawpaw balls?
So, the real question here, is what does this say about our national sense of self and our appreciation for our own home grown traditions? Because we’re also going to embrace Thanksgiving sales and events next month, St. Patrick’s Day festivities in March and who knows what else.
Is it the fault of the advertising industry that we’re allowing the conversations to be so heavily influenced by foreign trends that we’ve abandoned our own? Or, as the young people would say, maybe it’s just not that serious…
If you have an opinion, we’d love to hear it before we start carving pumpkins and stringing cobwebs and spiders around the office, which really would be FRIGHTENING!
