It’s September – spring is in the air, the weather’s finally heating up and it’s time to argue about Christmas.
Normally, we’re complaining about reindeers and creepy Santa statues plaguing the department stores already, but this time it’s that the decorations aren’t Christmassey enough.
Apparently people are fuming that the box that holds their tree from Big W simply says “Grand Pine Tree” or “White Forest Tree” instead of “Christmas Tree”.
Do people use the box as a decoration now? I’ve bought baubles in clear plastic tubes before that didn’t use the word ‘Christmas’ once, but I still knew what to use them for…
Christmas tree farm owner Fabian Iuele told the Herald Sun he was “disappointed” that Big W was ignoring the “religious element and history of the holiday”, which feels a bit insincere seeing as the plastic trees they’re selling are the biggest competition his business has.
People have threatened to boycott the store for their “political correctness” and immediately blamed religious minorities for Big W’s choice.
However, they seem to have forgotten that Big W’s biggest priority is making money and that means selling Christmas trees absurdly early and trying to make them seem fancier than they are by giving them real tree names.
“We know that many of our customers get really excited about Christmas and a number of customers like to co-ordinate their home Christmas decorations,” a spokesperson from Big W said.
“In order to assist our customers co-ordinate their Christmas trees and decorations, we label packaging with key Christmas themes.”
Also, a quick squizz of their website reveals each tree is still referred to as a Christmas tree, meaning this entire furore is focused solely on a box.
So maybe don’t boycott the store just yet, unless you feel very strongly about pre-emptive Christmas decorations.
