Fireworks, Swarovski Crystals, and the Phenomenon of Corporate Christmas

December 1, 2017

We went to Bryant Park to avoid Rockefeller Center. It’s not quite New Year’s Eve in Times Square, but the Rockefeller Center Tree-Lighting, which is Swarovski-studded and broadcast every year on NBC, seems like a chaotic, touristy, and shallow performance of capitalist religion. There is a redeeming attempt, however: the tree is donated for lumber to Habitat for Humanity afterward. But for the presumably millions of dollars of income that the tree-lighting and “Christmastime at Rockefeller” generate, lumber doesn’t seem adequate.

Anyway, that’s all to say that, half out of a desire to support other causes and half out of a desire to avoid the biggest masses, we went to Bryant Park instead.

Bryant Park’s Tree-Lighting Skate-tacular, while not completely devoid of ultra-capitalist appropriations of religion—it was, after all, hosted by Bank of America—was also not so gaudy. Surrounding the tree and skating rink, instead of the corporate heaven that is Rockefeller Center, was a classic New York City holiday market, usually filled with stalls by smaller businesses. Instead of donating lumber to Habitat for Humanity, Bank of America pledged to donate to (RED), a brand dedicated to raising awareness of and eliminating HIV/AIDS in several African countries. And the event itself was less star-studded than Rockefeller Center’s, comprised of champion figure skaters rather than popular singers. But, of course, then came the fireworks.

…Rockefeller Center didn’t have that.

It struck me as strange on two levels. Practically, fireworks and a very large tree in close proximity. And culturally, the combination of something that is so prominent in another holiday—an explicitly and exclusively American one: the Fourth of July—and the watered-down, commercial version of a single religious holiday. Then, because I was cold and wanted nothing more than to be out of school already, the phrase “Christmas in July” and its very commercial focus came to my mind.

I usually don’t put much stock into the cries of the “War on Christmas” because it seems ridiculous. What do you mean, “War on Christmas?” It’s the most celebrated holiday in December in the United States (and in the entire year, it is only eclipsed by Thanksgiving). The United States is overwhelmingly Christian and has been for its entire history, even though no religion is officially accepted by the State. How can there be a “War on Christmas?”

Of course, those people who go around complaining about a “War on Christmas” are approaching it from a very different perspective than I am. They are upset that Christmas isn’t being universally forced on Americans. They are upset that trees and angels on greeting cards are accompanied by the text “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.” They are upset that the Starbucks cup of the year is pushing a supposedly “gay agenda.”

I, however, am unsettled by the incredible commercialization of a religious and cultural holiday. All for money, money, money. Corporate money! In a season filled with the spirit of giving, the commercial greed of Christmas is deeply troublesome, especially when the companies benefiting most are not doing their own fair share of giving, whether by donating to charities or by paying taxes ethically.

This greed, in any form, seems antithetically Christian. Or, rather, antithetically Christ-like. After all, was not Christ the one who lived in voluntary poverty and surrounded himself by the lowest classes and said that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Consider Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement, which advocated a similar sort of voluntary poverty. Or consider the ultimate downfall of those like Rev. Fred Ross, the Southern Presbyterian author of Slavery Ordained by God, where a thinly veiled greed attempted to justify slavery.

And so, as we wandered the holiday market at Bryant Park and stumbled upon the (RED) stall, I began to think that the Bryant Park tree-lighting was no better than Rockefeller Center’s. After all, (RED) is a corporate brand, not solely a charitable organization, and it makes its money by selling licensed luxury items like iPhones, handbags, and $1500 Swarovski-covered water bottles. (Yes, really.) (RED) has also been criticized for being less than transparent and, in fact, less generous than they claim.

While the phenomenon of a corporate Christmas is not exclusively American, it does feel very distinctly American in origin. And like the tradition of Christmas itself, I am disappointed to say that I expect this commercial exploitation of religion to continue indefinitely. After all, and more and more every day, it feels like the United States is motivated not by freedom but by greed.

Yet, despite this cognitive dissonance, I enjoyed the Bryant Park tree-lighting. I fawned over Johnny Weir and filmed the fireworks, I bought hot cider and wished I could buy a $65 calendar. (Yes, really.) I am, as most Americans are, complicit in the greed. But isn’t recognizing you have a problem the first step to getting help?