Wal-Mart Brings Back "Christmas" to Christmas Marketing

Many people have spent the last several years scratching their heads in puzzlement because of all the politically correct references to "holiday sales" and "winter festivals" and the like. This year Wal-Mart and a few other stores have realized that leaving Christmas out of the holiday season for the past few years has hit them where it really hurt—in the pocketbook.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., as well as Kohl’s Corp. and Macy’s (a division of Federated Department Stores, Inc.) are stepping up their Christmas marketing to include traditional references to the traditional holiday items and verbiage. "We learned a lesson," said Linda Blakley, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman. "Merry Christmas is now a part of the vocabulary here at Wal-Mart."

The return to Christmas came about as a result of the steady increase in criticism of retail stores by religious groups and the general public who staged boycotts against Wal-Mart and other stores when they began to de-emphasize or completely eliminate references to "Christmas" in their advertising campaigns.

Wal-Mart will launch its first Christmas-specific television advertisement in several years and increase by 60% the seasonal merchandise items labeled "Christmas" rather than "holiday." Stores will feature Christmas shops, rather than the Holiday shops of recent years. Kohl’s is also playing up Christmas this year in its print, radio, and television advertising. And Macy’s is putting up Christmas signs in all of its department stores.

But not everyone is interested in returning to the traditional roots of the holiday season. "We are going to continue to use the term ‘holiday’ because there are several holidays throughout that time period, and we certainly need to be respectful of all of them," said Dawn Bryant, a spokeswoman at Best Buy Co. Inc., whose advertising will continue to omit any reference to Christmas.