Shopping to Death

Dear Merchants of Mortality:

According to my reconnaissance, Halloween decorations are already in HomeGoods, 111 days in advance. I understand why they might be pushing Halloween candy this early. I can get through four or five bags of mini-Snickers between now and October 31; that’s just good marketing. I also understand the brilliance of counting on shoppers to impulsively buy unique specialty items early, forget where they’ve stored them and then return to shop for replacement décor. That is an impressive scam exploiting the disorganized. But nobody misplaces an 18-foot skeleton or a Mickey Mouse-themed goblin yard ornament. Something else is clearly going on.

According to Daniele Mathras, Associate Professor of Marketing at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business and author of “The Effects of Religion on Consumer Behavior: A Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda” in the Journal of Consumer Psychology (August 2015), we’re buying Halloween stuff early as a hedge against mortality. “The theory is that we buy more as a compensatory mechanism for the fear of dying,” Mathras says. “The changing of the seasons and end of summer is one of those time periods where mortality is salient, so retailers may benefit by reminding us fall is here early” (Northeastern Global News, July 13, 2026).

Picture the marketing department Zoom meeting. People are spitballing ideas when someone asks, “What do all consumers have in common?” Microphones go silent as people shift uncomfortably on-screen, trying to hide Monday hangovers. “They’re all gonna die?” says one extremely cynical junior partner. “Exactly!” announces the senior VP of marketing. “And what can we sell that leverages that commonality?” The meeting heats up as participants realize a good answer could mean the return-to-office memo might be rescinded. “Caskets?” Mics go silent as a few heads cock sideways in their electronic frames. “Embalming fluid?” shouts another voice. Eyes roll, because everyone knows it’s Jim, whose contributions always pile onto the previous speaker’s idea and, in this case, steer it in a very creepy-strange direction. “No! It’s obvious,” continues the VP. “Halloween decorations!” Faces nod so universally that the gallery view looks like a marketing site for novelty bobbleheads. Small smiles cross faces—not because it’s a good proposal, but because universal nodding usually means the meeting is almost over.

Professor Mathras’ suggestion that a communal, subconscious response to the fear of death can explain Halloween decorations selling in July makes me wonder why church attendance drops during the summer. Maybe we should hand out fun-size Snickers bars in the narthex. I won’t even tell you what Jim suggested.

Missing many of you during summer Sunday services, I remain,

With Love,
Jonathan Krogh
Your Pastor