What is the first thing you think of when October 31rst rolls around? Halloween of course! Who doesn’t love this spooktacular holiday where you get to dress up as whoever or whatever your heart desires. Adults channel their inner kid and sport princess dresses and super hero tights. Little kids are initiated into the celebration by choosing their favorite costumes at the many pop-up shops that open just for the occasion. Even with the newfound diy craze brought on by Pinterest people of all ages still flock to halloween stores to find the perfect overpriced getup.
Candy is another market that thrives, particularly from the sugar thirsty little gremlins that roam the streets on this particular day. Lets not go giving the little ones all of the credit adults and the elderly are just as guilty of adding a little chocolate to their carts. So what is it that causes so many different people to long for the same generic halloween pastimes?
Holidays happen every year and along with these holidays come the semiotics of holidays. Halloween is a holiday that is represented by many images and symbols: pumpkins, ghosts, and jack-o-lanterns. As Halloween started to approach, you probably started to notice stores using these symbols to market different products. A common advertisement used during the. Halloween season is the Reeses peanut butter cup ad, where the candy turns into a monster-like creature. This advertisement is used to play towards the candy lovers and to portray their festive spirit of Halloween.
Another popular advertisement that many will take advantage of this halloween is the Chipotle Boorito. Put on your cat ears ladies and gentlemen for $3 you can score a full chipotle burrito! Fitting into the halloween spirit they depict the ingredients of the burrito warped into monsters with a jack o’lantern face imposed on the wrapped burrito itself. These images again relate back to Halloween reminding you it is a holiday and you should treat yourself especially with discounts being offered. So I leave you with this advice, go get dressed up in ridiculous outfits and gorge yourself on cheap food and candy. Or as it is said in the famous show Parks and Rec “treat yourself” isn’t that what Halloween is really all about?
IMC Hawks Blog 
YES! Everyone knows what time of the year it is when they start to see jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, and witches, and OF COURSE, the Halloween candy commercials! Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year, full of traditions and spooky fun! Even as I type this I am sitting with a huge bowl of chocolate candy left over from Halloween. Haha!
Halloween is absolutely my favorite holiday because once halloween rolls in, the holidays after just come so quick. The Reeses commercials will always be my favorite part of halloween because once those come on you know that spooky season is HERE! I think I enjoy this holiday the most because it is one of the least stressful ones and will always be fun even as you get older because it can be celebrated with anyone and still feel as fun as it did as when you were a child.
Halloween is my favorite time of year. I understand there’s this weird corporate market that’s driving our spending habits around that time of year, but I also love how for one month a year the whole country buys into the unknown and the spooky. Other times of year it’s just conspiracy and nonsense but for this month the unknown and paranormal are investigated, which I find interesting personally. I love the whole spirit and supernatural side of Halloween and I think many other people do too so we keep it going. Along for other reasons like candy and parties.
Growing up, we never really celebrated Halloween. However, even though I was never allowed to dress up and go trick or treating, we still always took advantage of the sales. We would always have bags of candy at our house, whether it be to give out or to eat ourselves. Even though we never celebrated Halloween, buying candy was still a tradition in our home. Now that I am a college student, I also take advantage of those deals and will definitely be taking advantage of the chipotle deal next year!