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Desert Local News - Desert Local News March 18th 2008 Print and Virtual Edition - Index

6 LOCAL NEWS
By Michael Miller
nothing says “Let’s celebrate
the Resurrection” like a Spider-Man
easter basket.
When Susan Linn, author of the
book “Consuming Kids” (Anchor,
$14), walked into a toy store recently
and saw such holiday offerings, the
commercialization of easter was laid
bare to her.
“What specifically jumped out at
me were the branded easter baskets,
of using easter as an opportunity to
market stuff to kids,” said the cofounder
of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free
Childhood.
Branding, a marketing method
that attaches products to an established
brand name, is only the latest
example of the commercialization of
easter, according to religious leaders
and activists like Linn.
There’s always the candy at easter,
too. According to the national
Confectioners Association, candy
sales for easter 2006 reached $1.88
billion, a figure actually down a bit
from recent years.
Peeps and chocolate bunnies carry
a lot of holiday weight.
Linn said parents putting together
an easter basket with some candy
and a couple of toys, or dyeing some
eggs with their children, doesn’t
bother her.
Linn, who is the psychologist at
Judge Baker Children’s Center and
Harvard Medical School in Cambridge,
Mass., said that “when easter
becomes an excuse just to give presents,
when those aspects of easter
become more important and salient
than the spiritual aspect of easter,
that can become a problem.
“That’s certainly what’s happened
to Christmas.”
Buying a pre-made, branded
easter basket does little more than
promote the brand, she said. “It’s essentially
a commercial.”
The Rev. James MacDonald, pastor
of Providence Church in Peoria,
Ill., said easter “undoubtedly” has
become more commercialized.
“We have certainly changed our
concept of ‘holiday’ to be one of
more personal recreation than what
god has done for us,” MacDonald
said.
That attitude has reached into
churches as well, he said.
“People look at easter now as
more of an opportunity for outreach,
so often there seems to be a compromise
with the gospel, a blurring of
distinction,” MacDonald said. “The
easter basket is often used as a means
to get people into the church.”
Doug grandon, director of religious
education for the Catholic Diocese
of Peoria, also said “there’s no
question” easter commercialization
R
is growing.
“Many people
have lost the primary
significance
of easter as the resurrection
of Jesus
Christ 2,000 years
ago,” said grandon.
“It’s obvious
that it’s a primary
marketing day for
corporations that
sell lots of things
at easter time, and
while we can appreciate
the celebratory
nature of all of
that, it’s not primarily
centered upon
the person of Jesus
Christ, and that’s what it’s all about,”
he said.
“easter is the time when the primary
miracle took place which led
to the rapid expansion of Christianity
into all the world with this happy
news that Jesus Christ is the savior
of all people. If we distract from that
message, we’re not doing a positive
thing.”
Linn said that marketing through
churches is even becoming a problem.
Prior to the 2007 release of the
movie “The Chronicles of narnia:
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,”
Disney held sneak previews
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of the film in churches and mailed
out advance kits with fliers and posters.
SermonCentral.com even held
a “narnia” sermon contest, with the
winner getting a trip to London.
“The commercialization of easter
is in some ways indicative of a
larger phenomenon,” Linn said.
“The marketing industry’s goal, by
commercializing easter, is to promote
their brands and, obviously, to
make money.”
The impact on children, the primary
targets, is what concerns Linn
most.
“There’s less and less commercial-free
time in children’s lives,”
she said. “If it starts invading their
spiritual lives as well, there’s almost
no place for children to be able to
have a non-commercial experience.
“Certainly their spiritual lives
and religious lives ought to be commercial-free.
Marketing really is antithetical
to the values of mainstream
religion. It promotes narcissism
instead of altruism. It promotes the
belief that things will make us happy,
which gives children less and less
experience with finding happiness
through the more ephemeral aspects
of life.”
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