Sunday, December 21, 2003 |
Carols by Product Positioning
In Australia every Christmas, there are two major televised Christmas Carol events.
The first one is always Carols in the Domain which is in Sydney. The second is Carols by Candlelight being held in Melbourne on Christmas Eve.
Last night saw the Sydney version go ahead and I'm sure much to the delight of Melbournians, it rained all over every candle holding caroller there.
I have always loved Christmas time and now having kids to share it with makes it even better. I can't wait until they open their presents so "they" can play with them.
Try this little test on yourself. When you think of Christmas carols, what images come into your head? For most people it will be Santa, Snow and the whole White Christmas story. Very few people would picture anything religious.
After all Christmas is mostly about kids and in the competition between baby Jesus and Santa Claus, who do you think is going to win? In the eyes of a child, Jesus may have died for their sins and guaranteed them a life ever lasting, but what have you done for me lately?
Last night however, Carols in the Domain introduced a forth type of Christmas carol. Instead of sticking to the big three, Jesus, Santa and Snow, Channel Seven brought in the Advertising carol. In fact they brought in an entire segment of them sponsored by Disney. What's worse is that they were not even vaguely disguised or dressed up as anything to do with Christmas. They were simply a whole lot of songs from animated Disney movies that had just been released on DVD.
In between these paid for by Disney "carols", Cameron Daddo and the women from Harry's Practice was doing his best to plug the recently release family movie Cheaper by the Dozen, some other up and coming Channel Seven show or just trying to drop the phrase "Channel Seven" in as much as possible.
I can handle singing about snow in weather that is hot enough to melt the nose off Michael Jackson's face but the Lion King has no place anywhere near a Santa hat.
In Australia every Christmas, there are two major televised Christmas Carol events.
The first one is always Carols in the Domain which is in Sydney. The second is Carols by Candlelight being held in Melbourne on Christmas Eve.
Last night saw the Sydney version go ahead and I'm sure much to the delight of Melbournians, it rained all over every candle holding caroller there.
I have always loved Christmas time and now having kids to share it with makes it even better. I can't wait until they open their presents so "they" can play with them.
|
I find however that this time of year is an interesting barometer on how much we are influenced by American culture. As tens of thousands of people sat in the rain singing I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, the temperature that day climbed to around thirty degrees Celsius with the previous day hitting highs of thirty four.
Mean while hundreds of thousands of people watching the event from home sat in front of Christmas trees decorated with snowmen, flocked with fake snow and peer out their front windows at the neighbour's Christmas lights set up to represent icicles hanging from the roof or balcony. Not that there is anything wrong with all that really. It's now a firmly entrenched part of a typical Australian Christmas to celebrate these things. This is similar to the way we sing religious Christmas carols without even thinking of their meaning. Most carols we sing are about the birth of Jesus Christ which is the original and for an ever shrinking minority of people, the main theme of Christmas. |
Try this little test on yourself. When you think of Christmas carols, what images come into your head? For most people it will be Santa, Snow and the whole White Christmas story. Very few people would picture anything religious.
After all Christmas is mostly about kids and in the competition between baby Jesus and Santa Claus, who do you think is going to win? In the eyes of a child, Jesus may have died for their sins and guaranteed them a life ever lasting, but what have you done for me lately?
Last night however, Carols in the Domain introduced a forth type of Christmas carol. Instead of sticking to the big three, Jesus, Santa and Snow, Channel Seven brought in the Advertising carol. In fact they brought in an entire segment of them sponsored by Disney. What's worse is that they were not even vaguely disguised or dressed up as anything to do with Christmas. They were simply a whole lot of songs from animated Disney movies that had just been released on DVD.
In between these paid for by Disney "carols", Cameron Daddo and the women from Harry's Practice was doing his best to plug the recently release family movie Cheaper by the Dozen, some other up and coming Channel Seven show or just trying to drop the phrase "Channel Seven" in as much as possible.
I can handle singing about snow in weather that is hot enough to melt the nose off Michael Jackson's face but the Lion King has no place anywhere near a Santa hat.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home