From Manger to Markets: An analysis of Christmas’ Commercial Takeover

 Has Capitalism Devoured Christmas?

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Underneath the bustle of the German Christmas markets, the pouring of mulled wine and hot chocolate, the wrapping of selected trinkets, and the voices of the choir singing Christmas carols, is the faint, almost imperceptible, constant pinging of successful transactions, whether it be Apple Pay, Google Pay, cash, or a physical card. That sound is the evidence of the “Golden Quarter” in full swing, and the silent prevalence of the second religion being celebrated at the end of the year.

While Christmas remains a majority Christian holiday celebrating the birth of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, its contemporary expression in 2025 has been silently co-opted by consumer capitalism. Its focus has been diverted gently towards maximising extraction and branding consumption for its own sake, as a societal obligation. It is essential to clarify that I do not dislike Christmas, and the purpose of this essay is not to criticize the way we celebrate Christmas, but to encourage you, the reader, to refocus on what truly matters during this season. The objective is to get you to see how you might be manipulated into spending what you may not have. It is to, in all your celebrating and giving, prompt you to pause  and question your purchases. Is this something you want to do, from a place of love and abundance? Or is it something you feel you should do, driven by invisible scripts of expectation? Finally, it is to let your hearts return to the manger, to the simple, profound gift that started it all, and let our generosity flow from that place of quiet gratitude.

I will begin by reflecting on a few staples of the modern-day Christmas and its traditions, from Christmas Trees to Santa Claus, and how they have been reengineered and have become multibillion-dollar industries.

Then  I will explore with empirical evidence what the commercialisation of Christmas looks like. This would be done by examining businesses and industries that rely on Christmas to bolster their earnings, thus the concept of the Golden Quarter. I will then examine how this reliance has led Christmas advertising to begin systematically earlier in the year, with plans to make it come around even sooner.  I would then communicate how it all leads to subtle, consistent suggestions that pressure you to spend. As a pointed aside, I will also examine, in this section, the concept of Detty December, which I consider the most egregious example of the commercialisation of Christmas.

Finally, I would then bring it back to the core aspect of Christmas, specifically from the Bible. I would address what capitalism actually got right and where it missed the mark with Christmas and the resulting cognitive dissonance that allows this cycle to perpetuate, particularly how that dissonance affects Christmas and the spirit of it.

Section 1: A Very Merry Christmas; Brought to You by Costco

Several elements have been combined to form what is now known as the modern-day Christmas season, including Christmas trees, lights, and Santa Claus. Furthermore, these traditions are relatively new (relative to the birth of Jesus Christ); furthermore, some of these traditions have been modernised and retrofitted in such a way as to maximise commercialisation and wealth extraction. These modernisations have spawned multi-billion-dollar industries that are so ingrained, no one seems to pay attention to or question their necessity. I will highlight exactly what I mean

Christmas Trees: It might surprise you to learn that the Christmas Tree industry is a billion-dollar industry. Globally, it is expected to bring in revenues of 6.5 billion dollars in 2025 alone, 1.7 billion of which comes from the United States of America alone. It is estimated that this industry will grow to almost $10 billion by 2033.

Christmas Lights & Decorations: According to Deep Market Insights, the global Christmas Lights and Christmas Decorations market was valued at $8.5 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow from $9 billion in 2025 to reach $12 billion by 2030. North America represents the largest regional market, contributing nearly 38% of global sales, with the United States leading demand for both residential and commercial installations.

Santa Claus: With origins that pay respect to the canonised Christian Bishop Saint Nicholas, the patron Saint of Amsterdam, amongst other things, whose legacy was preserved for years by the Dutch as “Sinterklass.” Santa Claus has had multiple variations to his image. The most popular one, the very one you’re thinking about while reading this, was born in an advertising agency, designed not only to sell Coca-Cola but to permanently ingrain The Coca-Cola Company in the culture that is Christmas. Fun Fact: the initial designs of Santa Claus were stolen at worst, or plagiarised at best, by the designer from the American beverage company “White Rock Beverages.”

The modern-day Christmas was brought about by the storytellers and authors such as Charles Dickens, who in his 1843 book “A Christmas Carol,” earned him the accreditation of reviving the Christmas spirit. I argue that his true legacy was more specific and potent: he authored a secular scripture for the modern holiday. A Christmas Carol provided a complete, replicable blueprint for celebration, a ritual that is partly responsible for shifting Christmas from a loosely observed holy day to a template for domestic and social virtue, one that could be achieved, in part, through specific acts of consumption and congregation. A few years before Dickens, in 1823, Clement Clarke Moore's poem “ 'Twas the Night Before Christmas’ " performed a crucial act of domestication. It permanently moved the gift-bringer from the shadowy, punitive figure of European folklore (like the Dutch Sinterklaas or German Knecht Ruprecht) into the warm, jolly, and child-centred Santa Claus. By detailing his descent down a family home's chimney with a sack of toys, Moore anchored the myth firmly within the private, domestic sphere and inextricably linked the holiday to the anticipation of delivered gifts, setting the stage for the family-centric, gift-driven celebration we know today.

These musings and writings were then crystallised in the Victorian era. This arguably is when the multitude of ideas and customs were wrapped up and packaged as the modern-day Christmas that turned folklore and niche customs into a commercial necessity. For example, in a time when social signalling was even more important than it is now, Prince Albert and their children gathered around a decorated Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, thus transforming a personal, German tradition of Prince Albert's into the ultimate symbol of fashionable, familial devotion to be emulated. Additionally, Sir Henry Cole's first commercial Christmas card invented both a new product and a new social obligation, changing what was once conveyed through a personal letter or visit into what could now be fulfilled with a purchased, mass-produced sentiment.

Finally, the most consequential change was the permanent alteration of gift-giving's nature and target. —bestowing small, handmade tokens or charitable 'boxes' (as on Boxing Day) upon those of lower social rank—morphed into a focused exchange of manufactured goods within the nuclear family. The gift was no longer a token of patronage or charity, but became the central ritual of family affection, one which required annual trips to the marketplace.

Section 2: The Cost of Living Crisis Christmas

To you, this is the Christmas season, but to the retail, logistics, advertising, and hospitality business, this season is called the Golden Quarter. The reason being that this is the season where these industries garner up to 50% of their yearly revenue, so if sales slump in this season, then their investor would almost certainly punish them for the slump. It is imperative to these industries that you spend, and they use a variety of tactics to ensure you spend. There is a lot of money to be made in this season. The National Retail Federation estimates that in the USA, customers would spend over a trillion dollars this season, about $890 per person. While over in the U.K., customers are estimated to spend £41.6 billion this season, about £802 per person, with £514 of that going to gifts alone!

This is evident in the numbers, not only for retailers but also in other industries.

Logistics: In the logistics industry, UPS often experiences visible spikes in revenue in its December reports. These spikes can range from as low as a $300 million increase in the quarter and as high as a $4 billion increase in a single quarter. This happens as there is an increased demand from the retailers and from everyday people sending Christmas presents constantly. As the chart illustrates, this creates a predictable, multi-billion-dollar fourth-quarter bulge in their revenue year after year

Advertising: The results in this industry are fascinating. Their revenues surge, benefiting from both the increased marketing and advertising spending towards Black Friday and then towards the Christmas season. I deduce that the same customers' spending would have a 6-month spend cycle with them to work on campaigns for both seasons. As seen in the charts below.

WPP, one of the world's largest, which offers communications, advertising, PR, and tech services. Per the charts below, it consistently sees revenue surges of up to a billion for the H2 of each year. The consistent revenue surge in the second half of each year, visible in the accompanying graph, underscores how the advertising industry itself is a direct beneficiary of the holiday spending cycle

Mariah Carey Defrosts Earlier Every Year:

You may not have noticed that Christmas has systematically come earlier each year. This is because advertising for Christmas gift purchases comes as early as October. In my view, Christmas advertising begins immediately after the American Thanksgiving holiday, so much so that you might forget that there are about 3 other religious holidays that fall between Thanksgiving and Christmas: Diwali, Hanukkah, and the Winter Solstice. A report by the consulting firm Bain & Company found that not only does Christmas arrive earlier, but that most adults also don't mind that Christmas advertising begins four months earlier. In my opinion, the earliest I wish to see a Christmas ad is during Black Friday, which is at the end of November. The reason that is given for earlier and earlier Christmas, per the CEO of Marks & Spencers [M&S], is that "people come home from their summer holidays and they say ‘what's next?’, and the next big thing is Christmas.” One thing that crystallises the arrival of Christmas is when Christmas Jingles, such as Last Christmas and Mariah Carey’s "All I Want for Christmas Is You," begin their annual loop on the radio, in stores, and in elevators. Fun Fact: Mariah Carey has earned an estimated $100 million from her hit single alone, $60 million in royalties, and an income of about $3 million every year.

Furthermore, a report has recognised that due to the decrease in sales volume during Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend (BFCM), advertisers are considering pivoting their marketing to ensure that the ads nudge and suggest that consumers make their Christmas purchases during that weekend, as opposed to marketing for that weekend alone.

Detty December:

Detty December can be defined as the return to Nigeria/Ghana of the diaspora from around the world to reconnect with their friends and family, and most importantly, to party. As much as I empathise with and strongly support Detty December, I think it has been so abused and greed-ridden that it really is the example of the commercialisation of Christmas that has been tuned to egregious levels unheard of.

The greed begins with the flight ticket. In any other season, a return ticket to Nigeria from London can often be found for around £500; during the Christmas season, an economy class return ticket with British Airways can cost up to £3,500. If you don’t have a house in Nigeria or if you do not wish to stay with your parents, you can expect to pay up to £8,000 for an Airbnb in Lagos Island for 8 days. As much as I want to believe that prices reflect the market demand, I strongly argue that not only is a 6x jump in price completely price gouging, but I strongly argue that there is no 3-bedroom apartment in Nigeria worth £1,000 a day. The greed does not stop there. While researching for this piece, I watched a viral TikTok where someone was charged the equivalent of £150 for a basic hairstyle and a botched manicure; for context, this hairstyle with the nails typically costs a tenth of this.

The greed persists seemingly everywhere you go, from restaurants overcharging you, hoping you don’t double-check your receipt before paying, to concerts and parties charging millions of Naira (thousands of Pounds/Dollars), to salespeople and everyone else asking for money with the  phrase, “anything for your boys.” It has strayed so far from Christmas and the spirit of it that it's just a fast cash grab to gain as much as they can as quickly as possible, without a care for ethics or the possibility of having repeat customers.

Section 3: Remember it is CHRISTmas

“For God so loved the World that He gave his only Son.”

Jn 3:16

My parents have embedded within me the importance of Christmas being about Christ Jesus. From the seemingly minor things, such as replying to someone telling me “Happy Holidays” with “Merry Christmas.” To ensure that every Christmas Day is spent at church in the morning, and spending the afternoon giving food/gifts/medicine to as many people in need around where we live.

The entire Old Testament of the Bible points towards and foreshadows the birth, life, and Death of Jesus Christ. From Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son of promise, to the Egyptians losing their firstborns in the tenth plague. His birth was the fulfilment of all that was promised, and his death was the catalyst for the salvation and restoration of humanity. A gift to us that we may be blessed, and also give gifts that money cannot buy. Somehow, a dollar sign was added to the equation, then it was prioritised, and now it aims to rip out the very essence of what causes this season to be so special in the first place.

Christ Paid it ALL; But I’m Still Being Asked “Cash or Card?”

Capitalism has successfully harnessed a few authentic elements: it amplifies a sense of cheer and happiness in what typically is a cold, wet, dark, and (if you are in the U.K.) depressing season. Another is the concept of a white bearded, rotund, generous man in a red robe, giving gifts, so that it continues to solidify the act of gift-giving in this season. It takes from and still resonates with Christian values and teachings. I am someone who gifts when I can, and it is done from the benevolence and blessings I have received. I also do it because that is who I am, as such, regardless of the amount I do spend on gifts, I do not regret it, nor do I feel like I was obligated to do so. Most importantly, I do not use it as a way to keep score with my friends.

I think that in all the razzmatazz and subtle undertones of financial anxiety, we lose sight of what is important and completely forget why we are even gifting in the first place, and end up turning a joyous moment into one filled with regrets and Klarna payments. It is crucial to remember this whenever you are about to go into debt just to fulfill a quasi-imposed obligation. In essence, you can choose not to do it, especially if your heart is not in it and you’re doing it begrudgingly.

Conclusion

Our exploration reveals a clear trajectory: Christmas has been meticulously engineered from a spiritual event into a commercial engine. We have witnessed the reinvention of its symbols: the tree, the gift-bringer, the very rituals of gathering into a blueprint for consumption, culminating in the "Golden Quarter," where retail fortunes are made, and the pressure to spend is packaged as festive cheer. From billion-dollar decoration markets to the strategic early thawing of Mariah Carey, the machinery is sophisticated and relentless. Yet, this analysis serves not as a call to cancel Christmas, but as a crucial map, revealing how the authentic spirit of the season has been gently, persistently diverted toward the market's altar.

Armed with this awareness, our greatest power is intentionality. The true rebellion is not in abstention, but in conscious choice. This means performing the simple but radical "heart check" before every purchase: “Is this an act of love, or an answer to pressure?” It means valuing the uncommodifiable gifts such as presence over presents, memory over merchandise, reconciled relationships over reciprocal obligations. We can enjoy the market’s glitter, but we must refuse to let it drown out the quiet, profound invitation of the manger.

Ultimately, the season’s magic was never found in a receipt. It resides in the original, divine gift of love-a gift that was freely given, not sold. To reclaim Christmas is to recenter that truth. Let our celebrations, our giving, and our gatherings flow from that place of quiet gratitude. We can navigate the markets, but we must choose, steadfastly, to dwell in the spirit of the stable.

Finally, once again from myself and my team at RIAE, we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you can smile harder, laugh deeper, and love and/or be loved fuller by those who matter to you this season. See you in 2026!