HOLIDAY OVER-LOAD: Holiday creep, the phenomenon of retailers “celebrating” holidays earlier and earlier, is a reality. Halloween decorations festoon stores as shoppers are buying back-to-school wardrobes for the little tykes, and some overly eager retailers break out the Christmas ornaments as soon as kids’ costumes are thrown in a heap, their tummies hurting from too much candy. The most egregious example, however, may be some stores’ impatience to kick off Black Friday. The fact that a growing number of retailers will open their stores on Thanksgiving day, is gicing people like Chris Lindland indigestion. The chief executive officer of Betabrand, an online clothing company whose fans design and crowd source products, installed an obese Santa in the company’s San Francisco store to protest the way some retailers are expanding the holidays. “As the clock tolled midnight on Halloween, Amazon and Target launched Black Friday promotions,” Lindland said. “Kmart kicked theirs off in September. It makes you wonder if The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come will soon haunt us all year long.”
Lindland is taking an “if you can’t beat it, you may as well parody it” approach. Besides the windows, Betabrand is selling Nauseating Holiday pants and skirts made from 100 percent stomach-churning canvas with a print of Santa and North Pole characters vomiting. The company also created a video game, Santa Sleighs Halloween. Black Friday has already conquered Thanksgiving, with retailers rolling out the door-busters while the stuffing is still warm.
“Should the Easter Bunny battle St. Nick?” Lindland said.