History Main / CommercializedChristmas

Some people ask themselves what they can do to show the Christmas spirit in their community, and answer by doing things like volunteering and donating food. Others ask themselves what they can do to help Christmas showcase (and sell) lots and lots of their products, and answer by making holiday-themed TV commericals.

[[caption-width-right:350: Jesus ''who?'']]

Some people ask themselves what they can do to show the Christmas spirit in their community by volunteering and donating food. The people who make TV commercials ask themselves how Christmas can showcase and sell lots of their product at local malls. The veneer of wholesomeness on the facade of Christmas-themed advertisements is as thin as the fake snow on the Hollywood sound stages these commercials were filmed on.

* Condemning christmas presents and the material nature of the date has been a catholic tradition back until [[OlderThanPrint the early Middle Ages]].

* The original 1965 broadcast included an opening ice-skating scene which ends with Linus crashing into a sign advertising Coca-Cola. So much for the true meaning of Christmas.

* The main reason why ''Film/SavingChristmas'' didn't do well even among its Christian target audience was because, rather than reinforcing the spiritual and religious significance of Christmas (the name being a truncated form of "Christ's Mass", by the way) as one might expect, Creator/KirkCameron instead spends much of runtime using some rather specious logic in ''support'' of the holiday's commercialization, such as how how spending money on lots of material things actually honors the birth of Christ rather than diminishes it, since He came to world in a material body.

* Do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? Probably, but you may not already know that, rather than starting out as the piece of treasured holiday folklore that he is now, Literature/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer was originally commissioned by Montgomery Ward department stores to sell coloring books, when they decided that in-house publishing would be cheaper than sourcing them from wholesalers.

* Do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? Probably, but you may not already know that, rather than starting out as the piece of treasured holiday folklore that he is now, Literature/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer was originally commissioned by Montgomery Ward department stores to sell coloring books, when they decided that in-house publishing would be cheaper.

* In November 2013, former US Vice-Presidential candidate UsefulNotes/SarahPalin [[http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/sarah-palin-i-love-the-commercialization-of-christmas advocated the commercialization of Christmas,]] on the grounds that it helped spread awareness of Christianity in America.

* Old prints and illustrations from the nineteenth century and before reveal that Father Christmas and his helpers could be any colour you liked, with (in Britain at least) yellow and green predominating. In Russia, "Ded Moroz" and his helpers still favour blue with white trim.[[note]]Although red is creeping in since the fall of the Soviet Union and the opening up of the country to Western influences.[[/note]] Red only began to be the default colour with the global creep of Coca-Cola dressing Santa in their corporate colours.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* In November 2013, former US Vice-Presidential candidate UsefulNotes/SarahPalin [[http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/sarah-palin-i-love-the-commercialization-of-christmas advocated the commercialization of Christmas,]] on the grounds that it helped spread awareness of Christianity in America.
* Old prints and illustrations from the nineteenth century and before reveal that Father Christmas and his helpers could be any colour you liked, with (in Britain at least) yellow and green predominating. In Russia, "Ded Moroz" and his helpers still favour blue with white trim.[[note]]Although red is creeping in since the fall of the Soviet Union and the opening up of the country to Western influences.[[/note]] Red only began to be the default colour with the global creep of Coca-Cola dressing Santa in their corporate colours.
[[/folder]]

* [=McCormick=] - "Tis the seasoning!"

-->'''Scrooge''': Well, if they're not here for the Christmas pitch, I can't help them find new ways of tying their product in to Christmas. That's why I'm chairman of this board! Let's hear it for me!

--> '''Arcangelo''': Ho ho ho. Use offer code FUCKMATERIALGOODS to receive $5 off any purchase of $200 or more.

--> Mr. Nezzer: Buzzsaw Louie also knows the true meaning of Christmas! All you have to do is press his nose...
-->Buzzsaw Louie: Christmas is when you get stuff! You need more toys!
--> Mr. Nezzer: You just won't be happy until your parents get you a Buzzsaw Louie, the only toy with a working buzzsaw, and the true meaning of Christmas!
--> Buzzsaw Louie: Billy has more toys than you!

* Creator/StanFreberg's 1958 comedy record "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5IXlfJSEi4 Green Chri$tma$]]" may very well be the TropeNamer. It takes characters from ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' like Scrooge and Bob Cratchit and puts them into an executive firm about how to best advertise their products. Cratchit is an HonestCorporateExecutive, whereas everyone else is [[CorruptCorporateExecutive decidedly not]].

Some people ask themselves what they can do to show the Christmas spirit in their community. The people who make TV commercials ask themselves how Christmas can showcase and sell lots of their product. The veneer on the facade of Christmas-themed clips is as thin as the snow on the Hollywood sound stages these commercials were filmed on. See also ChristmasRushed and ChristmasCreep.

* Norelco shows [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUQycfgCjr0 Santa riding through the snow on one of their razors]].

* The ''Radio Shack Holiday Heroes'' ads blatantly implies that [[TrueMeaningOfChristmas Christmas is all about the presents]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL7DEsA-eHk]]

* Old prints and illustrations from the nineteenth century and before reveal that Father Christmas and his helpers could be any colour you liked, with (in Britain at least) yellow and green predominating. In Russia, "Ded Moroz" and his helpers still favour blue with white trim.[[note]]Although red is creeping in since the fall of the Soviet Union and the opening up of the country to Western influences[[/note]]. Red only began to be the default colour with the global creep of Coca-Cola dressing Santa in their corporate colours.

Some people ask themselves what they can do to show the Christmas spirit. The people who make TV commercials ask themselves how Christmas can showcase their product. The veneer on this facade is as thin as the snow on the Hollywood sound stages these commercials were filmed on. See also ChristmasRushed and ChristmasCreep.

* Old prints and illustrations from the nineteenth century and before reveal that Father Christmas and his helpers could be any colour you liked, with (in Britain at least) yellow and green predominating. In Russia, "Ded Moroz" and his helpers still favour blue with white trim.[[note]]Although red is creeping in since TheGreatPoliticsMessUp and the opening up of the country to Western influences[[/note]]. Red only began to be the default colour with the global creep of Coca-Cola dressing Santa in their corporate colours.

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
* The film Saving Christmas infamously tried to justify this. As one can imagine, the message was trolled by everyone.
[[/folder]]

Not to be confused with a lack of [[DreamingOfAWhiteChristmas snow at Christmas]], or an [[GreenAesop eco-friendly]] Christmas, or [[WesternAnimation/TheYearWithoutASantaClaus Mr. Green Christmas/Mr. Sun/Mr. 101/Heat Miser]], or a classic ''[[Website/TheOnion Onion]]'' [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/weed-delivery-guy-saves-christmas,1264/ article]]. Nor the song by Music/BarenakedLadies, which is about a [[GreenEyedMonster different kind of green]].