I’ve been confounded by Asda’s marketing campaign for
Christmas 2017 which has been thrust under my nose every time I open a Metro or
turn on the TV for the last few weeks.
I’m fricking sick of it. That
campaign, of course, is the one promising people (but presumably only those who
shop at Asda) the best Christmas ever.
 |
| (Yes - I've really cut this out from the paper and scanned it in.) |
Best. Christmas. Ever. I mean - Christ... where do you go from there?
If Asda are right, future Christmases are going to have scarily big shoes to fill.
There’s enough ‘organic’ pressure exerted on people throughout November and December to enjoy Christmas at all costs without subjecting them to a marketing campaign that’s focused solely on adding to that pressure. Come on, Asda - that’s just cruel!
I’m not particularly anti-consumerist around the festive period. I’m really not. But I really hate the way that after months of build-up and increasingly intense coercion to invest (in every sense) in Christmas and all things Christmassy, from the evening of 25 December onwards, it’s dropped like a scalding-hot turkey that everyone ought to be ashamed of. Before people have barely had time to whip off their tacky paper hats or locate the Alka-Seltzer to ease their indigestion from gluttonous helpings of Christmas lunch, the message comes down from on high that Christmas is over, it’s time to move on and focus on stampeding out of the house to the Boxing Day sales as a remedy for being cooped up with loved ones for, what, a WHOLE fricking day. Hours later, we’re then directed to shift our minds to New Year’s stuff, detoxing and gym memberships.
So, after months of being subjected to shedloads of Christmassy shit, we’re then, in an instant, to pretend it never even happened?!? Well – I’m sorry. I’m just not playing that game anymore.
I honestly believe that enjoying the entire festive period is much better for our collective mental health. Why the constant search for the next big thing? How about celebrating the present for a bit?
So, Asda, I’m going to enjoy Christmas, but I’m not going to try to inflate it into something bigger that it can never live up to. And I’m not going to venture into one of your cheap and nasty stores in any event.
Try to come up with something a bit more sensible for next year’s Christmas campaign, eh?
