As holidays approach, students at San Luis Obispo High School are becoming increasingly aware of the overload of decorations in stores. Holiday decorations are a large part of business’ marketing strategies. Decorations are set out months beforehand in stores, with seemingly no purpose other than flooding the market with shiny and new objects, yet they leave a big impact. They change what a person buys, how the business rolls in money, and even create an opinion among SLOHS students.

  “This tactic of marketing is too early. It extends the period of time that people are willing to spend money on a holiday that only really lasts, depending on the religion, a few days,” said junior Alessandra Rizzo.

   When stores set out decorations months beforehand, they implement the idea of ‘holiday spirit’ into the average customer. Instantly, their thoughts tune towards the holiday aspect of their day, causing impulses and the wish to buy everything new in sight.

   “Stores definitely make a larger income off of this because they implement it into people’s minds that they need to buy a holiday thing, now rather than in the future. It’s always in the back of their mind ‘oh I need to buy a tree,’ ‘oh I need to buy new decorations,’ or ‘oh that’s there’s a new kind of decoration that’s out this year so I should buy it,’” said freshman Frances West.

   Decorations in stores act as a reminder for someone, telling them ‘I need new things’ or ‘that new light system is a must-have.’ Acting months beforehand allows the store to make a bigger profit off of the items due to this constant and unbreakable impulse.

   “I think its too early to see decorations for any holiday months in advance. They do this to try and capitalize on early holiday shoppers and gain money from holiday sales which also bring in potential new customers,” said family and consumer science teacher Ben Richardson.

   Holidays naturally bring in more money among companies that choose to set out decorations, but it can quickly become something that creates a divide among society.

  “It also materializes what is meant to be a very spiritual series of holidays and thus reinforces a wealth gap within the nation, which may make people more critical of the financial position of their loved ones rather than urging them to embrace the spirit of the holidays the decoration represent,” said Rizzo.