Most Americans think holiday decorations go up way too early
Finally, something the majority of people can agree on.
A study has found that most Americans think stores put up Christmas decorations way too early.
Time2Play surveyed 2,000 people who celebrate Christmas across the U.S. as a basis for this study. The average age of respondents was roughly 39 years old, and their average household income was about $60,722.
In receiving everyone’s answers, Time2Play discovered that nearly 85 percent of respondents believe stores decorate for the Yuletide season too far in advance.
The feeling that Christmas advertising gets earlier and earlier each year is not new: A 2015 MarketingWeek article details how many brands admitted to pushing ads out ahead of schedule, with one expert claiming search trends showed people querying for “Christmas” as early as September.
“People come home from their summer holidays and they say, ‘What’s next,’ and the next big thing is Christmas,” tells then-CEO of British retailer M&S, Marc Bolland, to the publication.
However, the Time2Play survey found that 12 states (including Pennsylvania) nevertheless admitted to decorating their houses for Christmas more than four weeks in advance to the actual holiday. Other states err on the later side of things, primarily, interestingly, in sunnier states like Florida.
“Respondents from the majority of states, 32 to be exact, informed us their decorations go up somewhere between two and four weeks ahead of time,” elaborates the study. “The average nationally was about 2.5 weeks prior to Christmas.”
Most respondents (66.1 percent) also prefer having an artificial tree as opposed to a real one, and only 28.6 percent think their neighbors leave decorations up for too long after Santa comes.