The Collegian

Issue date: 11/14/06 Section: Detour

For all of those who missed the top-secret memo that was passed among all the major retail stores this fall, the first official shopping day of the holiday season has been moved from the Friday after Thanksgiving to the first weekend of November. This subtle switch was first reported by KPIX who cited Gail Hillebrand of the Consumer Union as saying, "They (retail stores) want to get you before you max out your credit cards. It's a hook to get you to go there first."

While the chaos of the new ultimate shopping weekend has already subsided, the commercials for stores, credit cards, and movies has just begun. Capitalizing on the newly-adopted theory of aggressively capturing consumers befor credit card bills pile up, Visa has already launched their variation of the Charles Dickens' classic. Ebenezer Scrooge sheds his penny-pinching ways to compile a hoared of purchases rivaling any of Paris Hilton's shopping binges. Of course he completes this spree with his Visa card in-hand, in the hope that he'll win one of ten $100,000 prizes given away by the credit card company.

Along with the Visa ads, you can expect the usual Capitol One vikings and M&M spots to premiere in upcoming weeks. Besides the overt references to holiday folklore, there is also a shift in the type of commercials that are being aired. Recently Geoffery the Giraffe and his band of Toys-R-Us employees have been popping up more often than ever on TV screens. Entrancing scenes of the year's coolest toys induce anyone under the age of 12 to drool. Aimed at a different demographic, a new Best Buy commercial draws the same reaction from a group of adult men ogling a plethora of new electronic equipment while neglecting their outdoor wintertime chores.

The biggest offender of this early advertising onslaught has been holiday movies. Disney's The Santa Clause 3 got the early jump on all its competitors with its November 3 release. In past years, holiday films have at least waited until Thanksgiving to unleash their commercialized holiday cheer, yet for some reason Disney Pictures felt compelled (probably by their accountants) to distribute their film almost two months prior to the arrival of its title character. Also guilty is 20th Century Fox's film Deck the Halls starring Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick, slated to open the day before Thanksgiving. What could be better than gorging all day on turkey and then passing out in a darkened theater loaded with tryptophan instead of spending time with your family

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