I just watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV and I give thanks that it’s over. It was just one big commercial.
I’m really tired (already) of the Christmas hype. It started earlier than ever this year, even before Halloween. I’m getting hyper-sensitive to being condescended to by advertising that blatantly tells me what to want and to buy or else my Christmas just won’t measure up.
The parade was not much of a parade. It was more a pageant. A procession of theatrical acts that lined up on a street to perform, in turn, for the cameras in front of the Macy’s store.
Every float had to stop and some singer, dancers, or other routine performed. The announcers were relentless in informing us of their tie-in to some sponsor, movie or TV show. The only thing that resembled a parade was the endless parade of product placements.
And of course, it was all punctuated by commercial breaks. Five minutes of ‘parade,’ five minutes of commercials. Was that a parade float or an Old Navy commercial? They blur together. Even the balloon characters had tie-ins to movies. And the announcers were sure to mention them.
It was all so scripted, too. They never said “Oh, look what’s coming next” as if it was a surprise. No, it was just the next paragraph in the script. No wonder, no surprises, just business as usual.
Can’t a parade be just a parade? Can’t we celebrate Christmas and Santa Claus without feeling like are pockets are being picked? Even when Santa Claus showed up, he wasn’t the Santa we used to see. He was some guy in a red suit waving and gesturing and posturing like some kind of WWF wrestler.
It’s enough to put me off Christmas altogether. Bah Humbug.