# K-Mart And Walmart Says "Christmas Shopping" In Commercials
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 18, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983 "2009-11-18T01:19:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/1 "2009-11-18T01:19:57Z")
I noticed that K-Mart and Walmart were both saying “Christmas shopping” as in “Your Christmas Shopping needs.”
I always thought they said “Holiday shopping” in the past. Is this wrong? Or did they actually change it?
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/2 "2009-11-18T01:25:24Z")
Thus The War Against Atheism begins! Next I expect that I’ll be required to put a nativity scene in my garden.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/3 "2009-11-18T02:51:08Z")
They’ve used both. I don’t care what they use. Only the anal retentive and dementia patients freak out about it not being what they want.
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### Author:  [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/4 "2009-11-18T08:54:37Z")
I’m so over it. Christmas shoppoing ads start in September and that’s too much…
Fuck going shopping on Black Friday… i am not fighing idiots, twits, traffic and crowds at 4 am for any so-called-bargains.
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### Author:  [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/5 "2009-11-18T11:29:38Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#):
>
> They’ve used both. I don’t care what they use. Only the anal retentive and dementia patients freak out about it not being what they want.
Seriously. The only time I notice whether it’s “holiday” vs. “Christmas” is when the whole inane War on Christmas crap is brought up.
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### Author:  [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/6 "2009-11-18T13:28:12Z")
Atheist shrugs.
Private businesses are free to attract the customers they need/want. It’s no big secret that people go Christmas shopping. No big secret that it makes or breaks many merchants’ year.
I go Christmas shopping.
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### Author:  [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/7 "2009-11-18T14:25:22Z")
Maybe retailers are wising up. 1% of people whining “Nooooo! You can’t say Christmas!!!” 1% of people whining “Nooooo! Don’t take away Christmas!”
The other 98% “Heyyyy! We don’t give a fuuuuuck!”
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### Author:  [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/8 "2009-11-18T14:49:28Z")
Yeah, but hearing silly things like “holiday tree,” “holiday lights,” and “holiday presents” gets a bit annoying.
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### Author:  [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/9 "2009-11-18T14:50:40Z")
> [@Hampshire](#):
>
> Maybe retailers are wising up. 1% of people whining “Nooooo! You can’t say Christmas!!!” 1% of people whining “Nooooo! Don’t take away Christmas!”
> The other 98% “Heyyyy! We don’t give a fuuuuuck!”
Pretty much.
Such a huge deal over something so few people actually care about.
Walmart can say Christmas. Other places can say holidays - there’s more than one holiday in November and December, anyway.
That’s not a criteria I use to make my decisions on where to shop.
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### Author:  [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/10 "2009-11-18T15:05:30Z")
I’m an atheist and I get annoyed with the use of holiday sometimes. It’s not something that really sets me off though and it’s not as if I make a decision based on who uses holiday vs. who uses Christmas.
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### Author:  [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/11 "2009-11-18T15:17:15Z")
> [@Hampshire](#):
>
> Maybe retailers are wising up. 1% of people whining “Nooooo! You can’t say Christmas!!!” 1% of people whining “Nooooo! Don’t take away Christmas!”
> The other 98% “Heyyyy! We don’t give a fuuuuuck!”
Or maybe they finally decided that the vast majority of non-Christians didn’t give a rat’s patoot, and that offending large numbers of Christians by refusing to acknowledge the religious nature of the holiday the stores are supposedly celebrating was bad business.
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### Author:  [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/12 "2009-11-18T15:19:26Z")
> [@badbadrubberpiggy](#):
>
> Such a huge deal over something so few people actually care about.
There do seem to be an awful lot of Christians who are offended by the secularization of the holiday. I don’t think it’s accurate to say that only a few people care actually about it.
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### Author:  [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/13 "2009-11-18T15:48:18Z")
Well it drives me crazy that a Christian will be offended by the secularization of Christmas, while at the same time celebrating it in a completely secular way. How does it honor Christ by putting a pine tree in your living room and running up your credit card balance buying plastic shit made in China?
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### Author:  [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/14 "2009-11-18T15:55:04Z")
The whole War on Christmas thing was and is idiotic. I’m an atheist. I’ve _always_ said Christmas. It’s just what it’s always been. Neutering as a bow to so-called political correctness is retarded. The holiday has no religious connotations to me – I choose to celebrate what it means from a social perspective. But I’m not going to start calling it by some neutral name. If an atheist is offended by it, they need to book an appointment with a proctologist for an emergency arborectomy. Anyone who is of a religion that doesn’t celebrate Christmas isn’t going to give a damn.
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### Author:  [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/15 "2009-11-18T15:55:15Z")
What bothers me is when they lump everything together as “the holidays” when you know perfectly well what they mean. Every day some co-worker asks “Are you ready for the holidays?” in a sickly sweet voice. Which holiday, [Wear a Plunger on Your Head Day?](http://browse.postcards.org/postcards/cards/0353/) Yes, that’s December 18, and I no, haven’t decorated my plunger yet. If you mean Christmas, say fucking Christmas.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/16 "2009-11-18T15:57:24Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#):
>
> Well it drives me crazy that a Christian will be offended by the secularization of Christmas, while at the same time celebrating it in a completely secular way. How does it honor Christ by putting a pine tree in your living room and running up your credit card balance buying plastic shit made in China?
And insisting that commercials and salespeople say “Merry Christmas” and nothing that might be more vague. There’s nothing sacred and magical about a Walmart commercial, people.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/17 "2009-11-18T15:58:40Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#):
>
> There do seem to be an awful lot of Christians who are offended by the secularization of the holiday. I don’t think it’s accurate to say that only a few people care actually about it.
Which I’ve always found hilarious.
> [@Britanica Online](#):
>
> None of the contemporary Christmas customs have their origin in theological or liturgical affirmations, and most are of fairly recent date.
In other words, most of what we do on Christmas in secular in origin. Perhaps this is why most atheists seem perfectly okay with it. It can be celebrated without any significance on the Christian (or any other) religion. ([Hollywood Atheists](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HollywoodAtheist) notwithstanding.)
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### Author:  [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/18 "2009-11-18T15:59:34Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#):
>
> What bothers me is when they lump everything together as “the holidays” when you know perfectly well what they mean. Every day some co-worker asks “Are you ready for the holidays?” in a sickly sweet voice. Which holiday, [Wear a Plunger on Your Head Day?](http://browse.postcards.org/postcards/cards/0353/) Yes, that’s December 18, and I no, haven’t decorated my plunger yet. If you mean Christmas, say fucking Christmas.
Except now you can’t even say “holidays” without people assuming you mean Christmas and only Christmas. And then they get pissy because you’re “being PC” and taking Christmas away.
If I say “I’ll do X after the holidays” I mean I’ll do it after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years when I actually have time to relax. The phrase “the holidays” wasn’t invented recently by people who don’t want to mention Christmas, it’s been around for quite a long time now.
It doesn’t always mean just Christmas, though I definitely agree you should say Christmas if that’s what you mean.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/19 "2009-11-18T16:01:05Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#):
>
> What bothers me is when they lump everything together as “the holidays” when you know perfectly well what they mean. Every day some co-worker asks “Are you ready for the holidays?” in a sickly sweet voice. Which holiday, [Wear a Plunger on Your Head Day?](http://browse.postcards.org/postcards/cards/0353/) Yes, that’s December 18, and I no, haven’t decorated my plunger yet. If you mean Christmas, say fucking Christmas.
Well, Thanksgiving does start off the mad dash that for most people ends at New Year’s, unless you have a Greek/other Orthodox coworker who celebrates Christmas after that. So for most families, they will have at least three holidays to take into consideration.
For a few years and until this year, I hosted Thanksgiving for over a dozen in a small apartment, and made a massive feast. So my first thoughts at this time of year about “the holidays” revolve around preordering a fresh Thanksgiving turkey and making out shopping lists and cooking schedules. No, I definitely don’t mean “the holidays = Christmas.”
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/k-mart-and-walmart-says-christmas-shopping-in-commercials/517983/20 "2009-11-18T16:04:29Z")
Aha! The perfect time to whip out one of my favorite pithy sayings copped from…somewhere…forgot where I first saw it.
“Christmas is the economy masturbating.”
That said, the economy sucks. Stores are going to do whatever they can to attract the most business. Most of the country likes Christmas, so it makes economic sense to cater to the majority to some degree. Somebody please call me if Wal-Mart starts posting ads with “Fuck Atheists, who needs them? Jebus Loves his peeps! Come celebrate Christmas with us!”
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