The Oh-So-Permanent Thanksgiving Thread

[Drtooth]

I noticed that too! Has Cadbury ever got in on the Thanksgiving action?

Cadbury's kind of a British company. Even though they have American product ties and their own factory for the production of their candy they sell here, I doubt they'd bother with a very American specific holiday like Thanksgiving.

The three big candy holidays are Easter, Halloween, and Christmas. Though I'm not 100% sure of what the Halloween situation internationally is, Easter and Christmas are still very big candy selling holidays in Europe. I'd tend to think they'd have that in mind, regardless if their North American brand (and also, Canada has its own Thanksgiving that's different).

And even then, let's face it. You're not exactly thinking of eating candy on Thanksgiving. Not that M&M's and Hersheys don't have generic "fall" packaging independent of Halloween. But those are treated like after dinner mint type candy if anything.

 

[mr3urious]

The three big candy holidays are Easter, Halloween, and Christmas.

You forgot Valentine's Day.

 

[Old Thunder]

The three big candy holidays are Easter, Halloween, and Christmas.

And the two big dinner holidays are Christmas and Thanksgiving.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Here's some Super 8mm footage of the 1972 Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Brief shot of the Sesame Street float!

(If you're bored by old silent home movies, you can always pretend it's the latest Sinister snuff film! )

 

[Drtooth]

You forgot Valentine's Day.

You're right, of course. Four candy buying holidays, and basically Valentines, Easter, and Halloween are the major of the four. While all three of those aren't necessarily a just candy sales day, candy is their primary sales. Christmas shares it's candy time with something very obvious. Candy would be secondary, probably right there with decorations.

Thanksgiving isn't a gift giving holiday, nor is it one that involves buying anything but food for meals. Decorations and disposable table wear depending. I mean, the reason why major retailers jump from Halloween to Christmas, sometimes releasing both at once, is because there's stuff to sell on Halloween, stuff to sell on Christmas. Just nothing but food and maybe some ephemera here and there. It makes money for food producers and stores that sell them be they grocery, big box, or oversized department stores that are choking the former. This is why I'll never believe that War on Christmas garbage. Other than the fact it has such a hateful ulterior motive, there's waaaaaaayyy too much money to be had with Christmas for it to go anywhere. Thanksgiving went from meaning something (though, again, more the fact that the Civil War was over than the Pilgrims and Indians myths) to being the soft money Christmas pre-game show.

Still... we've got foil wrapped chocolate turkey figures. That slowly show's there's progress of seeing more money in this middle child of a holiday.

 

[CensoredAlso]

This is why I'll never believe that War on Christmas garbage. Other than the fact it has such a hateful ulterior motive, there's waaaaaaayyy too much money to be had with Christmas for it to go anywhere.

Not to get too heavy, but also, more American Christians are hearing about the plight of the Christians in the Middle East. By comparison, the "War on Christmas" is a joke.

 

[Drtooth]

I don't want to get in on it much, but "War on Christmas" is some of that right wing dog whistle stuff that...yeah...works to put it in the shortest form possible. Religious fanatics persecute their own kind for having slightly different beliefs, and have done so for eons. If anything proves that we have a very entitled culture all the way around, it's getting offended that a Podunk town in a state you don't live in doesn't have a Nativity scene somewhere.

I would say however, the clumsy attempts of retailers and using the umbrella "Holiday" title in the end is meaningless and pointless when you realize that they don't give two craps about representation of other holidays other religions celebrate that time of the year. I give some retailers all the credit in the world for their tiny, blink and you'll miss is Hanukkah corner, but even then, it's surrounded by an entire store of red and green with Christmas trees and Santy Claus and reindeer and other things the US appropriated from European countries. Christmas is a very dominating holiday, the commercialism proves that there's no way this is going anywhere.

But it's just that Thanksgiving has always been under scrutiny for being in the way of Christmas, even in the 40's (or earlier, maybe? I forget the exact anecdotal date) when the retailers were pressuring the President to move Thanksgiving up sooner, closer to that start of November, rather than later in the month. And frankly, whatever you want to believe about the European settlers, pro or con, this is an important holiday in its own right. If anything, it's a day to be thankful everyone's still alive and you hope they are for the next year, all the while being thankful that you're not dying out on the street in some war torn country. And maybe to feel so blessed, you share that with the less fortunate, even though that's usually the only time anyone bothers to do so.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Here's some Super 8mm footage of the 1972 Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Brief shot of the Sesame Street float!

(If you're bored by old silent home movies, you can always pretend it's the latest Sinister snuff film! )

That's pretty cool. Though, too bad it's so brief and we can only see the back of the float.

I wonder what year it was that Alison Bartlett was talking about that she attended the parade when she was a kid and Northern Calloway and Will Lee stepped off the float to shake her hand. And I wonder if that ever made it to TV or not.

 

[CensoredAlso]

That's pretty cool. Though, too bad it's so brief and we can only see the back of the float.

I wonder what year it was that Alison Bartlett was talking about that she attended the parade when she was a kid and Northern Calloway and Will Lee stepped off the float to shake her hand. And I wonder if that ever made it to TV or not.

That would something cool to look into!

My favorite (if that's the right word, lol) part of the clip is when you can see that adult theater sign that says "Orgy American Style," lolol. Naughty 70s NYC.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

I found the full Macy's parade from 1983. A few things caught my I in this video. If you skip to about the 52:50 point in the video, you'll see the actor who played Ralphie on "A Christmas Story" probably promoting the movie, while awkwardly singing (sort of) about talking to animals:

Also, skip to 1:16:45 to see the Fraggle Rock float, which is probably the most awkward thing i've ever seen. It didn't actually have any of the main characters, besides Uncle Traveling Matt, none of the puppeteers were good at all here, and the whoever's inside the giant walk-around costumes clearly had no direction from anyone whatsoever. I seriously think this is the most awkward float i've ever seen. Not to mention, some of the puppets didn't have any puppeteer at all, so they just sit there, lifeless. It's really creepy, they look dead.