The Analysis of Christmas as a Cultural Context of Consumption

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Introduction

All over the world, people celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on or before December 25th. However, the once-religious celebration of Christmas is becoming increasingly commercial in modern times. Sales in the Christmas business in November and December have been rising for years. Why does one give more and more expensive gifts, to what extent does Christianity play a role in this, and how can this be done more sustainably – looking for clues under the tree? For many people, Christmas is the most popular holiday of the year with all its traditions and customs. Today, its Christian roots often play a secondary role – over the centuries, Christmas has increasingly established itself as a family holiday where people have a good time together in fun company. This distance from religious origins has opened the holiday to incorporate new customs from different cultures.

One of the countries in which the customs of the original winter holidays were incredibly diligently combined with the Christian holiday was Germany. One of the most important symbols of Christmas is likewise of German origin: the Christmas tree. It developed from the pagan custom of decorating with pine branches. In Germany, the Christmas tree, decorated with candles and small gifts, appeared in the 19th century. When the German-born English royal family put up their own Christmas tree, it started a worldwide trend that continues to this day. Christmas wreaths, nutcrackers, and Christmas markets were also invented in Germany.

In the second half of the 19th century, a large immigration wave brought its own Christmas traditions to the United States. It created a kind of melting pot of Christmas customs, in which influences from different cultures come together in a single holiday celebrated at home with the family (Khan et al., 2018). From a holiday of Christian origin, Christmas has evolved into a very secular and highly commercialized celebration.

Holiday decorations, fragrant Christmas trees, and gifts for loved ones: many people go to great lengths every year to make this Christmas dream come true. That provides a decent growth in retail sales, so the festival is also important for the economy. However, with consumption, the demand for resources increases. Companies use traditional festivals to meet the needs of consumers, and the tradition of Christmas gifts has evolved with modern innovation. Until the 20th century, gifts were wrapped in brown wrapping paper (Bittel et al., 2019). Then, merchant Rolly B. Hall ran out of paper in his shop for Christmas and had to use printed envelope lining instead, and gift wrapping paper was born (Bittel et al., 2019). Small printed cardboard cards from the 19th century were the template for Christmas cards, now produced in book format to allow enough space for handwritten holiday greetings.

Gifts, cards, and decorations are an essential part of Christmas, but certain foods and drinks should not be missing from the celebration. After the Brothers Grimm published the story of Hansel and Gretel in the early 19th century, gingerbread houses became popular in Germany (Hindle, 2020). On the palate, mulled wine and stollen are also traditionally associated with the Christmas season. Today it is believed that the holiday is a success when the apartment is beautifully decorated, and everyone is in bright clothes, there is a lot of delicious food on the table, and a bunch of gifts under the Christmas tree.

Opportunities to Make Decisions Related to Christmas Consumption

For most of the history of Christmas, it was about food and drink. Then, one began to see a shift in the time when people gave gifts to children, began to buy things at Christmas, and this moved to a different type of consumption. The typology of consumers is a classification of consumers into groups distinguished by gender, age, level of education, income, and profession to identify consumer groups characterized by different requirements for the consumer properties of the product. The realities of today show that it is much more convenient to work with consumers if one knows the segmentation since the consumer’s behavior directly depends on his psychotype (Miller, 2017). In marketing practice, consumers are usually segmented according to various criteria. In classical literature, six psychotypes of consumers are distinguished: the layman, the careerist, the independent, the hedonist, the imitator, and the intellectual.

While research shows that current consumption levels don’t make people much happier than in the 1950s, people are trapped in cultural and economic systems that make consumption necessary. The need for capital to expand markets means that one must continually buy more if the economic system is to survive. Culturally, businesses and consumers are finding themselves co-creating systems over which they have little personal control as more and more needs are created and satisfied through interaction in the marketplace.

For a business to become truly sustainable, it must actively contribute to cultural change and become one of the creators of an alternative economic system in which human needs are constructed and satisfied in a different way. Along with the change in the paradigm of human thinking from religious belief to the consumer environment, the commercialization of Christmas is taking place (Miller, 2017). It generally causes people of all types to react the same way to the approaching holiday: the preparation of ‘traditional’ customs to create the magic that imbues the holiday.

Influence of Marketers on Consumer Behavior

Many people view marketing as a form of manipulation, especially around Christmas and other retail holidays such as Easter, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day. Then, instead of just trying to fool people, master marketers know that it’s much easier to understand and work with inherent human flaws. Consumer behavior is the purchasing patterns of goods and services for personal consumption and consumers’ decision-making processes. Information about consumer behavior is important for companies around the world because they are constantly striving to improve their experience of interacting with consumers and, ultimately, sales performance (Diebner et al., 2021). The study of consumer behavior allows firms to understand the expectations and moods of consumers and make changes to the products and services offered.

The holiday season means something different to marketers than everyone else. He still represents love, generosity, and sentimental communication. Although the focus is on understanding how those holiday feelings translate into consumer buying decisions. This time of the year is very competitive as customers are in a buying mood, and every brand has to offer the best to be chosen. At the same time, marketers use various techniques that influence consumer behavior, such as creating anticipation.

The advent calendar gave people something they looked forward to every day of December. It creates excitement about what form of chocolate goodness will be out the door the next day. It creates anticipation. When a brain anticipates a reward, one experiences more pleasure than receiving the reward. Because of this, one is subconsciously drawn to whatever creates these positive emotions and makes a brand a source of expectation. By creating a holiday-related ad, offering discounts on mysterious products, or giving shoppers a subject to confirmation gift, one brand will create excitement about the unknown (Hufford, 2022). Google’s Santa Tracker is a great example: it releases new Santa-related content every day from December up to the 25th (Santa Tracker). In addition, this psychologically encourages consumers to pay attention to the brand.

Manipulation of Consumer Behavior by Marketers

The researchers suggest that far from all are called manipulative sales techniques, but only those that meet three criteria: 1) implicit, 2) hidden, and 3) directing. In this case growths the buyer’s will towards a rash purchase of an unplanned variety of goods. Manipulation results in causeless semi-planned and impulsive purchases. Marketing communication represents a combination of various advertising tools that may demonstrate a product or service (Hufford, 2022). Specific messages were developed and implemented to convince consumers to accept the purchase decision.

Consumer perception is how consumers unconsciously interpret the meaning of any advertising campaign or advertisement. Wiedmann et al. (2018) stated that consumers’ five senses play a role in developing the perception of objects in their environment. Thus, advertisers use over-the-line advertising or deliberate media and under-the-line advertising to attract consumers directly. Wiedmann et al. (2018) believe trust in the information received from the five senses is considered necessary, and customers rely on this information when making a purchase decision. Moreover, some researchers argued that perception varies from person to person; therefore, the meaning of the same declaration differs for various people.

The positive impact of the message displayed in the advertisement has led to positive feelings toward the advertised product since the emotional attachment created can convince consumers effectively. For example, a well-known celebrity and expensive campaigns associated with high-quality and premium brands. Therefore, the brand’s market positioning determines the type and attractiveness of the advertising used to appeal to the target market (Shareef et al., 2019). In this case, consumers react to well-designed manipulation and unconsciously begin to imitate their expected behavior. For example, at some point, Coca-Cola became a symbol of a holiday and a cheerful company at Christmas. In this regard, the brand’s popularity is increasing on the eve of the holiday.

Advertising or brand position does not directly affect consumers’ willingness to buy or pay a premium, but consumer perceptions of a brand are more likely to be portrayed in advertising. The association described above came about as a result of an advertising campaign that can be enhanced through collaborations, for example, with other brands or celebrities. Likewise, the chances of buying an advertised product are higher than those of non-advertised products because the advertisement serves the purpose of building brand awareness (Shareef et al., 2019). Thus, it has been proven that increasing brand awareness positively correlates with cognitive attitudes towards advertising.

Associative Network of Christmas

Chart 1. Associative network of Christmas

Christmas is celebrated every year on December 25th; basically, it is a holiday for Christians. In time, the Christmas holiday has gone beyond the religious framework and become a holistic cultural symbol. December winters bring a festive mood. Usually, the celebration begins long before the primary day and lasts about 2 weeks after it. A holiday that is equally loved and cherished by adults and children. People also bring the Christmas tree to their homes and decorate it with colorful balls, ribbons, and red socks. The market shops and showrooms are decorated in sparkling reds and whites to set the mood for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, people have a big dinner and share gifts with each other. Christmas is a holiday of joy; it’s about sharing and helping others. On this day, people remember Jesus Christ and his life lessons. The festival definitely teaches people to show kindness and love to each other and help those who have less than us.

Christmas is a Need or a Wish

Ironically, the choices offered by the new culture of consumption completely limited the definition of the good life to a single vision. From this point on, monetary values will become for many the main measure of all other values (Wiedmann et al., 2018). The department store was the centerpiece of this process — the seat of consumer desire. Department stores were places to buy things, but they were equally sacred to capitalism: they showed the totality of what the American economy produced and imported (Wiedmann et al., 2018). Then, at the same time, they did not so much satisfy desires as they created them, producing needs that no one even knew existed.

Consumer messages were now conveyed to the public through billboards, magazines, radio, and later moving picture television. It was mass advertising that allowed the slowly evolving idea of Christmas as a time for gift-giving to become mainstream and eventually define Christmas itself. Businesses have realized that Christmas can be a brilliant source of money. Seasonal advertising began to emphasize the act of ‘gifting’ as a major part of Christmas, having Santa Claus physically showcase branded products to a growing consumer market. On the one hand, it makes people want to consume, as advertising and the general atmosphere are mesmerizing and can bring happiness. From this, on the other hand, it turns out that people follow generally accepted rules and feel the need not to be different from others. Indeed, today it can not only offend relatives or friends but also affect the general psychological state of the individual as a result of detachment from society.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

The hierarchy of needs expresses that there are certain needs that a person, for example, must recognize in order to increase motivation and morale. Maslow’s theory states that basic needs must be satisfied before workers become motivated (Desmet & Fokkinga, 2020). The researcher emphasizes that psychological needs must be satisfied first (Desmet & Fokkinga, 2020). During the Christmas period, psychological factors include food and water, and for her people to satisfy them, they must provide themselves with a festive dinner.

Security is also presented as a basic need in the hierarchy of needs. Consumers are focusing on guaranteeing themselves a safe environment, and in today’s society, for example, buying environmentally friendly products or safe home decorations. Maslow attaches great importance to the fact that love needs arise with adequate satisfaction of physical and security needs (Desmet & Fokkinga, 2020). People in the context of Christmas want to feel joy, care, respect, and be part of the family and community. Family members or friends express their feelings and support to others verbally and through the attention shown in the gifts purchased. Finally, consumers must realize the need for self-realization, presenting recognition in the society. It can be noticed as a display of status, income, or uniqueness as well.

Instrumental and Terminal Values of Christmas

In general, there are 6 core values that guide the planning of the celebration of Christmas and the choice of gifts:

Instrumental value of thrift or efficient use of financial resources
Instrumental value of equality or maintaining the equivalence of gifts for a specific subgroup of recipients
Mixed (instrumental/terminal) value of tradition or following family ritual scripts when choosing gifts
Mixed (instrumental/terminal) value of education or the use of gifts as educational tools, instrumental and transformative
The terminal value of social recognition or the achievement of recognition and appreciation from the recipient
The terminal value of the feeling of happiness and magic from the holiday

Most of the values formulated above contain an element of instrumentality; that is, they determine the ways of behavior. However, public recognition is an end value, dealing with a desired end state of existence. Obviously, this desired end state is more important to the giver than the choice of any particular item. Thrift is clearly ‘value for money’ and, therefore, will determine the gift choice. The poise seems most evident in difficult gift-giving situations such as Christmas. While not always purely consumer-oriented, the tradition provided givers with clear ‘scripts’ for specific gift items.

Situational Aspects Influencing Consumer Behavior

Christmas is usually the most considerable annual economic stimulus around the world. Sales of goods in various outlets have increased dramatically, and during the Christmas season, people buy various Christmas gifts, decorations, and supplies. Industries that depend on sales during the Christmas season include Christmas cards, Christmas trees, and others. In addition to the most significant economic activity, Christmas in various countries is the most peaceful day for the business world. Nearly all retail stores, businesses, and commercial establishments were closed during this time; in addition, almost all industries stopped working. Film studios release expensive films during Christmas to entertain people on vacation.

Reference Groups Influencing Consumers

The factors influencing consumer behavior are external factors and individual internal factors. Psychological factors are internal, and the social environment is an external factor. In psychology, aspects that influence consumer behavior are perception, learning process, motivation, individual personality, attitudes and beliefs, and self-esteem (Sahelices‐Pinto et al., 2020). The study of consumer behavior studies the action or process of making a decision to purchase a product, which is determined by economic, psychological, and socio-cultural factors. According to Mooij (2019), the factors that have a significant impact on the consumer’s decision-making process are:

economic factors related to the ability of consumers from the economic side to support the purchase decision process;
psychological factors related to a learning experience, personality, attitudes and beliefs, self-esteem, and individual motivation;
Socio-cultural factors related to cultural factors, customs, social class, role models, and family.

Factors influencing grocery shopping before Christmas are socio-cultural factors that are done for prestige or social position in society. Economic factors are not the main ones, but they are very influential, namely vacation pay for purchases (Sahelices‐Pinto et al., 2020). Psychological factors also dominate the purchase of clothes in the decision-making process based on the motivation to be different and to maximize self-confidence during the celebration of Christmas. The prestige factor trumps the functional factor when it comes to satisfaction in maintaining one’s status or prestige.

Reference groups are people in the consumer’s micro-social environment who are essential to the consumer. Reference groups can influence a person’s cognition, affective responses, and behavior (Leary, 2022). The reference groups are formal, informal, primary, secondary, membership, desirable, and dissociative; their combinations are possible as well. Consumers are likely to suffer if the information is perceived as enhancing their knowledge of the environment or their ability to cope with some aspect. That is, if they believe that it will help them achieve some goal, they will respond. Utility influence occurs when a person conforms to perceived expectations of what others want to be rewarded or avoid punishment (Turner, 2017). That may affect the purchase of the product and/or brand. A person also reacts to the value-expressive influence of the reference group in order to improve or maintain their ideas about themselves (Turner, 2017). They may adopt the position of a reference group to strengthen their self-esteem through association with the group or join or associate with group members who represent the desired values.

Based on the above analysis, consumers during major holidays, especially around Christmas, seek to satisfy the need for social inclusion and recognition. It means that in the first place, they fall under the practical and value-expressive influence. The dominant reason why people choose a product for shopping before Christmas is self-satisfaction, where the main reason is the motivation to look attractive. In this case, the reference group becomes the individual’s environment; for example, grocery shopping, which has been a family tradition for generations. It is directly related to tradition, according to which consumers consider food as one of the ways to unite the family, and all kinds of markets actively help in maintaining it.

Family Life Cycle Model

The concept of the family life cycle allows us to understand how the family develops in time, passing through the stages of evolution and involution. The first stage of the family life cycle is the stage of life together. During this period, each of the partners strives to please the other; couples have their special rituals or pastime ideas. As consumers, young couples are more likely to fall for marketing gimmicks as they strive to show each other and others greater involvement in society and understanding its trends and tendencies. The next stage in the life of families is the birth and upbringing of children. Children always worry about flickering perspective lights, family time, absence from school, and, of course, gifts. In this regard, one of the stages of the family’s life cycle becomes the creation of a holiday for children, the way they want or expect to see it. At this stage, most couples stop thinking about gifts for each other as a priority and turn their attention to children. During this period, Christmas is a must for celebration, as children perceive it as an essential holiday as birthdays.

At the stage of raising children at senior school age, when Christmas in the family circle loses its past meaning of magic, the main thing is, first of all, the purchase of gifts. On the other hand, the kids already have a new social circle, which may be a priority, so the celebration is more about parties with friends than gatherings with parents. At the separation stage of children from their parents, there is a renewal of the understanding of Christmas as a family holiday. Relatives are more likely to meet at someone’s home for a celebration, but gifts are not as valuable as spending time together. This changes at the stage of raising grandchildren, when children again appear in the family, for whom the atmosphere of the holiday is important, so the consumer behavior of the family rises again.

Subcultural Components Affecting Individual Consumer Behavior

The influence of age on consumer practices is manifested in the choice and frequency of service consumption. The presented age groups are affected by various agents. For example, middle-aged people are guided by television, which exposes them to advertising. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the income level of consumers, which significantly influences their behavior (Rana & Paul, 2017). Consumers with relatively high incomes are characterized by an active type of consumer behavior, while consumers with lower incomes are characterized by a tolerant or traditional type of consumer behavior. For the most part, income depends on the level of social class.

Consumption becomes a form of social control, with the help of which coherence is formed in society due to the realization by individuals of the importance for them to play according to the rules of the consumer society. The social status of the consumer consists of many components and directly impacts almost all aspects of his life and work. That includes everything from food and clothing to meeting cultural and spiritual needs. With higher social status and income comes more confidence in consumer activity. The level of consumer confidence will be an essential determinant of consumers’ willingness to spend, borrow and save (Rana & Paul, 2017). A high level of consumer confidence will stimulate a higher marginal propensity to consume. A drop in consumer confidence is often an indicator of an economic downturn.

In a consumer society, the status symbol is increasingly defined by the value of gifts. For example, there has long been a trend in which the value of Christmas gifts for children is seen as a clear indication of the professional success of parents. What parents receive as a Christmas bonus is reinvested in gifts for children. The formula is as follows: the number of gifts equals social status. People strive to show that they can give what their loved ones want and that they are successful.

Christmas Myths and Rituals

Christmas tree, gifts, or mistletoe: hardly any other holiday has as many traditions as Christmas. Advent calendars allow to gradually immerse oneself in the holiday atmosphere, starting from the beginning of December. The most apparent Christmas ritual that one cannot do without is to decorate the Christmas tree and the house. On Christmas Eve, children look forward to their gifts at Christmas dinner. Previously, it was believed that gifts were from God, but today every child knows and is waiting for Santa Claus. One of the modern traditions has become to revise every weekend of December films and series associated with the winter holidays.

Understanding the Cultural Context

People tend to think that this Christmas is a terrible, highly commercial distortion of what was a warm, loving family holiday that used to be a purely religious day. Christmas has always been about consumption. For most of the history of Christmas, it was about food and drink. Then what happened in the 19th century, with the rise of the middle class, with lower prices for commodities, people began to see a shift in the time when people gave gifts to children, one began to buy things at Christmas, and this moved to a different type of consumption. I think the core of Christmas is the idea that something magical happens. It is all artificial and the perception changes depending on many factors how Christmas consumers are affected by status, income, goals, age, and more.

There are more ads today than there used to be. Retailers constantly invent new promotions and occasions – the excitement around Christmas discounts. However, this does not always lead to the desired goal because some consumer groups show reactivity when there are too many ads, and then they get annoyed. At the same time, advertising has become much more effective because target groups can be reached more accurately on the Internet.

I am positive that Christmas will not change at all in the future because constant things determine its special and unique character. Moreover, people appreciate Christmas because they are close to their loved ones, not because of the tree, gifts, cribs, or waffles. In a world where people are more and more surrounded by technology, they lack special connections that are deep, real, and stable. That is, the atmosphere and the desire for magic will remain a priority, but the celebration traditions may change. For example, today, there is an active struggle to save the planet, and such large-scale holidays as Christmas have significant negative consequences of environmental pollution. Perhaps people will refuse to decorate Christmas trees and gift wrapping in the future to make the holiday more environmentally friendly.

In general, as a result of the analysis of Christmas as a cultural context of consumption, I realized that changes in the paradigm of celebration occur along with changes in society. Earlier, when people were more religious, the meaning of the holiday was much closer to the church. Today, people live in a rapidly developing consumer society, so this has become a priority. I have read many articles by researchers who find this disappointing, but I do not fully agree with them. Modern people perceive this holiday differently and are happy in the way it is today.

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