When Culture Becomes a Product
Have you ever stopped and wondered why you are doing something?
Not whether you enjoy it.
Not whether everyone else is doing it.
Just… why?
We live in an increasingly commercial world where almost anything can be turned into a product.
A tradition becomes an event.
An event becomes a marketing opportunity.
The marketing creates products.
The products create demand.
And eventually, the commercial version becomes so familiar that we stop questioning where it came from in the first place.
Halloween is a good example
Halloween has historical and cultural roots that go back a long way.
But the version most of us recognise today is increasingly about costumes, decorations, parties, sweets, snacks and merchandise.
The original meaning becomes almost irrelevant.
What matters commercially is that Halloween gives us another reason to buy something.
And that's the interesting bit.
The same thing happens far beyond Halloween.
Take something that has meaning.
Package it.
Promote it.
Create an annual occasion around it.
Get children, families, businesses and social media involved.
Repeat it often enough and eventually people don't think of it as marketing anymore.
They think of it as tradition.
That's the clever part.
Nobody necessarily had to force us to adopt it.
We simply absorbed it.
And then, once enough people are doing it, not participating can start to feel strange.
I'm not suggesting we stop having fun.
Enjoy the party. Wear the costume. Eat the lollies.
But perhaps it's worth occasionally asking ourselves a very simple question:
Did I choose this because it means something to me, or because I've been taught that this is what people do?
Because there's a fascinating difference between participating in culture and being sold culture.
