Who banned Christmas update

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Regular readers and followers in social media will know that I am never afraid to go out on a limb, take a different view or follow a road less travelled by(apologies to Robert Frost). I am often called contrarian, sometimes judged to be eccentric and frequently described as politically incorrect. All compliments that I am very happy to accept, it’s part of who I am and the sum of the experiences that have made my life so interesting. It probably also has something to do with having been brought up as a Rhodesian, knowing right from wrong and standing up for principles.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost (1874–1963).  Mountain Interval.  1920.

Even though I am comfortable being true to myself and not following the latest flavour of the day, it is still re-assuring to be proven correct and to know that in some important areas there is a majority of people with similar values.

Shortly after publishing my post about Tim Hortons banning  Christmas from their stores, Sue found the results of  a survey published in today’s Sentinel Revue that confirmed my assumptions.

The survey which was carried out by Abacus Data found that 76% of Canadians prefer to use “Merry Christmas” as a greeting compared to “Happy Holidays” which apart from being preferred by 38% in Quebec (Joyeuse Fetes) and 13% in Ontario scored under 10% in the rest of the country. The preference for Merry Christmas was 81% in Ontario and 86% in British Columbia.

So for the marketing experts at Tim Hortons and other brands that are tying to ban “Christmas” from Christmas, it is not just me that you are losing as a customer, you are in danger of alienating 76% of your consumers.

Risking the goodwill of 76% of consumers for political correctness? That does not sound like good business to me.

Wishing you success in all your endeavours and of course, Happy Christmas.

Tags: Christmas, marketing, Merry Christmas, principle, social media

This entry was posted on December 8, 2011 at 6:00 am and is filed under Internet Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.