Christmas Commercialism, 2005, by Steve West

From MemoryArchive

Who:  Steve "Wombat" West
What:  Cultural imagery in sharp contrast
When:  December 3rd, 2005, 10:30 AM, PDT
Where:  Wal-Mart Store #1700, 13425 Community Road, Poway, California, USA

I had come to Poway to help a friend decorate her house for Christmas and watch movies. After hanging ornaments and unwrapping boxed holiday goodness, we found we needed some more ornament hooks and a few other sundry supplies. We put the dog into her harness and went off walking to the store. Now I don't shop at Wal-Mart for various reasons, but my friend does, and so I followed her. We asked the greeter if there was a problem with bringing the small dog inside, and she said there wasn't as long as we kept her in the cart.

Now as an aside, my friend and I both celebrate Christmas as a spiritual holiday. Personally, I have become somewhat irritated by the barrage of secular Christmas celebrations that go on. I don't mind that Santa Claus and snowmen are secular. I don't mind singing secular songs. I don't mind low-key secular office parties. What I do mind is that Christmas decorations are sometimes hung in stores the day after Halloween. I mind the exploitation of the season to drive profits up. I mind the commercialization of Christmas, and I avoid it at all costs. I have taken to calling the secular holiday celebrated on December 25th "Capitalism Day", though to my knowledge, I'm the only one to do so.

So we were in Wal-Mart, and we went to the pet aisle to look at small dog beds. We picked up a bottle of pet shampoo, and then turned to look for the ornament hooks. As we left the aisle, I saw a flash of red as Santa walked by. We wandered into a smaller subsection of the store that had solely Christmas supplies. Finding the ornament hooks without too much trouble, we turned to leave. As we left, I beheld a most amazing image.

I saw the Santa, sitting on a pile of Coca-Cola boxes that had been stacked to form a massive chair. This display was perhaps five feet wide, five feet deep, eight feet tall, and quite sturdy enough to sit in. It was raised one or two box-heights off the floor to form a small platform. The Santa was dwarfed within it. The combination of imagery was astounding. Sit in my lap, young consumer. Tell me what you want, and I shall tell your parents what aisle it's on. Do you like my chair? It's made of the most wonderful substance around. Don't drink too much though, you'll rot your teeth.

Held within the palace of consumerism, it was the perfect throne for the king of Capitalism Day.