Why do retailers fear using the word 'Christmas'?

By Peter J. Parisi, THE WASHINGTON TIMES | Tuesday, December 23, 2008

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ANALYSIS/OPINION:

In the fall 2008 edition of "FYI Alexandria," which the city bills as "Alexandria's Official Resident Newsletter," a front-page blurb announced: "City Seeks 2008 Holiday Tree."

Alexandria at the time was "seeking the donation of a Colorado Blue Spruce ... or other well-formed 25- to 35-foot evergreen tree."

"The Holiday Tree will be decorated and displayed throughout the holiday season," the newsletter noted, adding that it would be lighted during the city's annual tree-lighting ceremony on Market Square.

Given that it was politically correct Alexandria, it shouldn't have come as a surprise that the city arborist - ironically, named John Noelle - wouldn't call it what it is, a Christmas tree; after all, the only other "holiday" involving trees is Arbor Day, and that's celebrated on the last Friday in April.

And with the holiday that dare not speak its name almost upon us, nowhere is that phenomenon more noticeable, or more indefensible, than in the advertising sales circulars of the national retail chains that come by the dozen in newspapers, especially on Sundays.

A review of those sales brochures from the day after Thanksgiving - aka Black Friday - through this past Sunday, shows that among major retail chains, only Kohl's and Rite-Aid have used the word "Christmas" regularly and prominently in their advertising.

Beginning with Black Friday, so named because it's supposedly the day on which retailers finally make it into the black for the year, retailers' sales brochures have been bedecked with Christmas iconography - red ribbons and bows, tree ornaments, strings of lights, mistletoe and holly, Santas and the like - but with few exceptions (given due credit below), none have had banner headlines proclaiming Christmas as the reason for the buying season they were so desperately encouraging.

At J.C. Penney, it was an "After Thanksgiving furniture and mattress sale," Sears touted a catchall "Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving sale," and at Lowe's, the home-repair and hardware chain, it was "Let's Holiday" - as if holiday were a verb. Office Depot similarly turned "gift" into a verb: "Gift smarter. The holiday gifts they really want." Not to be outdone, Old Navy proclaimed an "Extravaganza humongous honkin' 3-day BIG weekend sale."

The next day, Kohl's broke the silence with its "Christmas Super Saturday." Five days after that, Kohl's touted an "Incredible Christmas 2-Day Sale," and has continued to use the word unabashedly since then.