Christmas, a religious day for many, is meant to be a day of celebrations and sharing love with others. However in recent years, this idea seems to have been plagiarised by the commercial world.

Have you noticed how early the Christmas music starts playing on the radio and how some malls start promoting Christmas sales as early as October? This untimely ‘Christmas propaganda’, however much it helps businesses, is diminishing the Christmas spirit. Seeing sales and decorations pop up so early, has led to people feeling that the Christmas spirit is all year round, and thus when Christmas actually comes by, they are not as excited to spend a day with their families. Being so dogged by sales, has made people lose the meaning of Christmas and instead bury their heads in shopping – almost feeling that they have a duty to buy presents – from the sheer amount of ads.

On the other hand, however, some may say that Christmas is not very commercialized. The main reason for this commerciality is people. On the run to Christmas, people become crazy, buying much more than they need, only because things are on sale. An anonymous student from Bancroft’s School said, “You cannot blame the commerciality of Christmas on businesses – they are not the ones spending and buying. People are.” Businesses sometimes do not even have to advertise much – they just play tricks on people’s minds which supposed ‘sales’ (they actually increase the prices by a lot, then half them just before Christmas to say they are on ‘sale’). They merely use the crazy Christmas fever to boost their sales: they are only doing their job and just adjusting for people’s desires. People are the main cause of the increase in commerciality.

Overall, the commerciality of Christmas can be interpreted in many different ways: Christmas is a time for giving so technically you are giving, with presents – or Christmas is a religious time and should not be made into a money-making scheme. There has indeed been an increase in commerciality: mainly, the more we have, the more we want. Nonetheless, whatever you make of this, remember to bring happiness to those around you and be grateful for what you have – that is the true meaning of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!