Over the years, holidays have become a time for gift-giving, reunions and celebration. However, currently, companies capitalize on the festive spirit to mass produce their products and generate high sales. This increase in shopping leads to detrimental impacts to our environment, and also shows America’s growing issue of extreme consumer culture.
Companies frequently take advantage of holidays, whether through sale events or holiday packaging. Almost every day between the months of October and December, shops have aisles and aisles of mass produced seasonal items that will barely get used upon purchase. “[A seasonal product] may be a one time use,” said junior Kimberly Lee. This has ramifications for Earth itself. For example, advent calendars are frequently filled with single-use products, packaged in plastic, such as bath bombs and chocolates. The loads of plastic from the elaborate packaging are all that remain afterward. Festivity shouldn’t come at the cost of a climate. Further, it should not rely on product purchases to begin with. The holidays are about family, love and connection, not a brand new pair of boots.
As the holidays draw near, social media platforms and the internet as a whole become flooded with holiday-themed advertisements. Influencers advertise many new products as well, targeting specific audiences and encouraging them to buy various sponsored items. It seems like everyone is encouraging a culture of consumerism, instead of focusing on holiday joy. Additionally, some find the constant noise of marketing annoying. “I think that it can become more materialistic where people center [holidays] more around gifts,” sophomore Saesha Dhote said.
After the COVID pandemic, people leaned towards online shopping. A recent study from 2023 found that 43 percent of Americans now prefer shopping online. However, the normalization of online shopping has led to other problems. Online shopping can lead people to buy more than they need, which is textbook overconsumption.
Online shopping is also detrimental to the planet. According to the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF), Americans returned over $816 billion dollars worth of gifts bought online in 2022. Those returns contribute to the 16 million metric tons of carbon dioxide released from processing and shipping returns each year. This does not even include the amount of carbon dioxide released from the original shipments. The commercialization of the holidays is harming the environment. Commercialization is something to be feared and it is just not the point of the holiday season.
The commercialization of holidays is dangerous due to its climate change implications. It takes away from the festivities while leading to overspending and overconsumption. Just because it’s December does not mean we should forget our values or ignore the impacts of our actions.
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