The saying “Merry Christmas” is not unusual for people in America to say this time of year, or is it?  The saying “Merry Christmas” has seemed to fade away over the last twelve or so years.  The saying “Merry Christmas” has been replaced with a new saying “Happy Holidays.”  It seems that this term is used a lot in commercials on TV or the internet, but why? 

Most people who support this “new saying” will tell you that big companies do not want to offend their customers who do not celebrate Christmas by saying “Merry Christmas” in their commercials. 

My first question would be to the people who state this point would be. “When did Merry Christmas become an offensive term to use against someone?  The last time I checked the saying “Merry Christmas” was supposed to bring happiness and joy to someone’s day.  It was never intended to put someone down or offend them. 

During the Thanksgiving break I watched a lot of Television and I noticed a common trend with all the new “Holiday commercials”- no matter what the brand was.  It could have been a car commercial, food, lottery, toys, etc.  They all used one specific holiday to help promote and sell their brand, and that holiday is Christmas.  

On the Fox Sports Detroit channel during the commercial break of a Red Wings game they showed two different commercials promoting two different brands.  The first commercial I saw was a Ford Escape commercial.  In the commercial they showed a mother and her young daughter driving up to the mountains to go cut down what looked a Christmas Tree?  Considering there is no other holiday in the month of December that has an evergreen tree helping to represent its holiday.  In the commercial the commentator said.  “You could have gone down to the nearby tree lot to pick out a nice little spruce for the holidays. But you got a Ford escape, with four-wheel drive and an example to set. Ford escape built for the holidays.”  

The very next commercial was from the Michigan Lottery.  In that commercial they showed a man promoting the new Michigan Lottery Holidays scratch off tickets.  In the background of the commercial they showed a Christmas Tree, Christmas Garland, Reindeer, Stockings and much more traditional Christmas decorations.  However, they called their new scratch offs “Holiday”- double standard, or no? 

On a different channel a Buick commercial was shown.  The title of the commercial was “Buick Holiday Shopping Tips.”  In this commercial they showed a man sitting in a chair promoting the new Zola Buick Envision.  When they showed the vehicle, you could clearly see a Christmas Tree standing up behind the front end of the car.  If the title was “Buick Holiday Shopping Tips,” then why do they only represent Christmas in their commercial?  

The last commercial I am going to point out to you is an AT&T commercial.  In this commercial they show a man and woman having a conversation about the new iPhone 10X.  In the commercial the man was saying to the woman. “I can’t believe how incredible the screen is on the new iPhone 10X.  During the end of their conversation the man said, “It’s the perfect Holiday upgrade.”  The Women responded with “I know what I’m asking Santa for this year.” Then the man responded again saying “You still write letters to Santa?”  Women: “No, Please I send him emails.”  Man: “Can I get his email address?”  Women: “No I don’t feel comfortable sharing it.” 

If they kept referring to Santa in this commercial, then why didn’t they say, “It’s the perfect gift for Christmas.”  After all Santa is always associated with Christmas, not with any other holiday.  

The point I’m trying to make is if you’re not allowed to say Christmas in commercials anymore, then why are companies still representing the Christmas with the decorations they are using for their commercials.  If people just want to say “Happy Holidays” then why don’t they represent other holidays like Hanukkah or Kwanzaa in their commercials?  If they don’t want to represent any other holidays in their commercials, then why don’t they say, “Merry Christmas?”  In my opinion I think they are trying to include other religions but, in reality they are only referencing Christmas.  So why are they afraid to say Christmas?  I think they are afraid of the political correctness police.    

What do you think?