Does Christmas come too early?

Full article featured in FineLiving magazine - October/November edition.

Christmas comes but once a year - so the cliché goes. Only it doesn't, does it? It comes every nine months, starting in the shops in September and lasting until January 1. Now, some of you may feel the cockles of your traditionalist hearts warming up when you stroll down the still-summery high street in your sundress and see the holly and the Santas. Others will retreat clutching handfuls of hair.

There are still than 80 days to go to Christmas yet on a recent outing, I found businesses advertising for the festive season. For those who despair at the commercialisation of Christmas, the mid-summer has never been so bleak.

Like a lot of people, I feel the long run-up to the festive season means that Christmas is much less special when it finally arrives. Others feel there is too much commercial pressure to buy presents and an emphasis on consuming lots of food and drink.
Is it too soon to think about Christmas? Has commercialism hijacked our religious and cultural celebrations? Or do lavish Christmas stores add to the anticipation of the festive season?

The ASA has recently received complaints about advertising campaigns launched as early as mid-September saying they were "socially irresponsible" because of the financial pressures that Christmas brings to families for early on. Launching promotional campaigns so early, the complainants argue, serves to intensify and prolong this pressure.
Other complaints centre on the fact that the advertising assault represents an over-commercialisation of what is meant to be a religious festival. Several of the complainants suggested the ASA should look at setting parameters for when companies can start airing Christmas-themed campaigns. Sadly, whilst some people will find it frustrating to see advertisements for Christmas appearing so early in the year, the ASA has no power to regulate Advertisers who are able to chose when they wish to begin their seasonal advertisements.