# A few Halloween Marketing observations. Please add to as needed **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 23, 2001, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002 "2001-10-23T01:41:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/1 "2001-10-23T01:41:34Z")
Hello, Mass Retailer. Just spent a few minutes perusing the aisles. Been doing that a lot the last few weeks. Thought I’d share a few thoughts. (1) Holy mackerel. Does anyone decorate THAT much? (2) The “witch crashing into the tree” schtick just isn’t the laff riot it once was. (3) Halloween Peeps! What fun! At what point, however, does it take away from the specialness of the original Easter peeps? (4) Please, please, please. Stop putting out that cheapo-bag of candy. You know, the one marked 50% cheaper than the fun-size candy bars, the one with the dum-dums and other very small, very cheap pieces of never-heard-of-it-brand candy? I mean, if someone can’t afford to give a decent treat, they should just leave the porch light off and give up. Think of the children! ---
**Author:** ![Jessity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jessity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jessity)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/2 "2001-10-23T01:49:41Z")
(5) No adult person really really wants to be a box of Mc Donald’s french fries. You may stop producing those costumes. (6) Bit-O-Honey’s are gross. 'Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/3 "2001-10-23T02:01:42Z")
1. They brought back FrankenBerries. What’s the 3some? Count Chocula, Boo Berries and Frankenberries? This will make [some people](http://members.tripod.com/DarrinV/index.html) very happy. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/4 "2001-10-23T02:03:20Z")
1. The child size french maid costume is just wrong. ---
**Author:** ![TheNewbie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/db5fbb/32.png) [@TheNewbie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNewbie)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/5 "2001-10-23T02:16:06Z")
1. I happen to like bit-o-honeys 2. the child size french maid outfit is **not** wrong when you get your date to wear it ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/6 "2001-10-23T02:20:02Z")
11.) Not every Halloween-themed radio ad needs to say something about a “spook-tacular time” for “all the boys and ghouls.” ---
**Author:** ![whistlepig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@whistlepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whistlepig)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/7 "2001-10-23T02:34:18Z")
1. Halloween Peeps take away the specialness of Easter Peeps? The marketers quite clearly own your soul. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/8 "2001-10-23T02:39:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TheNewbie \* > \*\* > 10) the child size french maid outfit is **not** wrong when you get your date to wear it \*\* No you don’t understand. There are nice adult french maid outfits that cover a very small ammount of you date which is nice. But a french maid for a six year old is wrong wrong wrong. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/9 "2001-10-23T02:49:04Z")
1. This year MrWhatsit and I are contemplating giving out packets of Pop Rocks strapped to cans of Coke as our Halloween treats. 2. We don’t expect to be very popular in our neighborhood after this, but 3. I bet it’s a laff riot. ---
**Author:** ![Diesel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Diesel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diesel)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/10 "2001-10-23T04:17:21Z")
1. Does the real Superman ever really wear a plastic t-shirt with his picture on it? ---
**Author:** ![Wild\_Card](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wild\_Card](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wild_Card)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/11 "2001-10-23T04:41:34Z")
1. The green hand that reaches out to grab you was funny only the first 1st time you saw it. 2. The “spider web” netting, that gets in your way and clings to the back of your elbows, was never funny even once. 3. Free candy is always nice. Even those individually-wrapped single Lifesavers make me feel like the store is grand and puts me into a good mood. ---
**Author:** ![Doc\_Nickel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@Doc\_Nickel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doc_Nickel)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/12 "2001-10-23T10:29:37Z")
1. Small stores, Post Offices, etc: The plastic hanging motion-sensing witch (skeleton, ghost, pumpkin, Frankenstein’s Monster) that basically never stops that nerve-grating tinny miniature-sound-chip-piezo-speaker “scary noise” because of all the motion going on in your place of business, ain’t really my idea of getting into the mood for the Holiday, y’knowwhatI’msayin? Hearing a witches “eeyah-ha-ha-ha!” cackle coming out of a piezo speaker the size of a dime isn’t exactly the pinnacle of sound reproduction, m’kay? Yank the battery if you have to but shut it off and just let it hang. Then it’s just decoration, and not **actively** annoying people. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/13 "2001-10-23T10:32:34Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Please, please, please. Stop putting out that cheapo-bag of candy. You know, the one marked 50% cheaper than the fun-size candy bars, the one with the dum-dums and other very small, very cheap pieces of never-heard-of-it-brand candy? I mean, if someone can’t afford to give a decent treat, they should just leave the porch light off and give up. Think of the children! In another thread (and I can’t remember which one, so don’t ask) several people mentioned that they had first and second candy tiers. First tier was for little kids in costume. Second tier was for teenagers NOT in costume, just out for candy. If we had a big problem with uncostumed teens asking for candy, we’d be getting this cheap stuff too. As for amount of decorating, some DO actually decorate that much, especially for parties. And some people just enjoy having a choice of decorations, rather than the same old orange and black streamers. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/14 "2001-10-23T10:47:57Z")
…And please, please, please, assign someone to clean up the cotume aisle periodically: pick up the masks, hang up the costumes, wipe up the lipstick and rouge that someone smeared on the shelves… Granted, kids (and adults) shouldn’t be slobs, but when I see the aisle looks the same in the evening as when I was in the store in the morning, that’s just plain wrong (the Frankenstein monster mask was in the same position - couldn’t have fallen on the same plastic cape the same way twice). It’s just as bad as picking your way down the aisle between folders and notebooks during the “Back to School Bonanaza”. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/15 "2001-10-23T13:06:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MsWhatsit \* > \*\*12) This year MrWhatsit and I are contemplating giving out packets of Pop Rocks strapped to cans of Coke as our Halloween treats. > > 1. We don’t expect to be very popular in our neighborhood after this, but > > 2. I bet it’s a laff riot. \*\* Thanks for the idea! I don’t usually give out stuff, but I’m getting a 24 pack of Coke and some poprocks. That’s priceless. To the mother whose twin daughters have taken boxes and made them look like the World Trade Center, complete with model airplanes sticking out of them and shiny yellow and red paper flames: WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? ---
**Author:** ![cygnus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@cygnus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cygnus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/16 "2001-10-23T13:56:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Annie-Xmas \*\*\* > To the mother whose twin daughters have taken boxes and made them look like the World Trade Center, complete with model airplanes sticking out of them and shiny yellow and red paper flames: > > WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? \*\* I would so like to think you are just making this up. I so, so, so want to think so. But I have the sinking suspicion you’re not. Dare I ask where you saw this grotesque atrocity? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/17 "2001-10-23T15:36:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cygnus \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Annie-Xmas \*\*\* > > To the mother whose twin daughters have taken boxes and made them look like the World Trade Center, complete with model airplanes sticking out of them and shiny yellow and red paper flames: > > > > WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? \*\* > > I would so like to think you are just making this up. I so, so, so want to think so. But I have the sinking suspicion you’re not. Dare I ask where you saw this grotesque atrocity? \*\* Someone who works with me in New Jersey came up with this idea for her twins. I couldn’t make that up. I wouldn’t want to be able to make that up. ---
**Author:** ![Syzygy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Syzygy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syzygy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/18 "2001-10-23T16:01:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Annie-Xmas \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by cygnus \* > > I would so like to think you are just making this up. I so, so, so want to think so. But I have the sinking suspicion you’re not. Dare I ask where you saw this grotesque atrocity? \*\* > > Someone who works with me in New Jersey came up with this idea for her twins. I couldn’t make that up. I wouldn’t want to be able to make that up. \*\* Yet another reason to steer clear of Jersey. 😃 Seriously, though, what does this insensitive bitch do for Thanksgiving? Roast kittens? Not to mention what her Christmas tree (or menorah, or what have you) might look like. :eek: Those kids (if their mom doesn’t get the hint from those around her who actually _have_ a clue) will have a rather miserable Halloween, indeed. I feel sorry for them. Oh, and: 17) If I happen to be walking by your store, please don’t accost me with your poor impression of the latest “movie monster”, unless you want a fist-shaped dent in that $90 Wolfman mask. “GMMMRRRRHHH” from under foam rubber and latex isn’t scary (especially in broad daylight), just annoying. Thanks so much. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/19 "2001-10-23T16:18:48Z")
I think we are all forgetting a VERY important note: Dear Mr. Mass Retailer: 18) Please, please, **please** try to hold off AT LEAST until Labor Day before you start putting out the Halloween stuff. I mean…August? Is too soon. (Which brings us to #18b…in 8 short days Halloween will be over—please don’t let that be a signal to you that it is time to put up the Christmas stuff! Could we get a week or so into November before you do that? Wait a minute…my local Rite-Aid already HAS a Christmas aisle! Hey! It’s not even _Halloween_ yet…could you back off just a smidge? Thanks.) ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002/20 "2001-10-23T16:27:19Z")
#19 Hey halloween store those rubber bugs your selling for 3 bucks a bag? yeah the dollar store has em in the SAME packages for a buck, ya know the one on the corner? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-few-halloween-marketing-observations-please-add-to-as-needed/89002.md?page=2)