Maybe it has something to do with Friday the 13th, but it was still unnerving to walk through the aisles of my neighborhood Hy-Vee on Thursday afternoon and see displays of Halloween candy already on the shelves. I did a double-take when I noticed the boxes of Kit Kats and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups with silhouettes of black cats and pumpkins on them. It was a scary sight, with 109 days left to go before the holiday.
Stores have been putting the Halloween candy out earlier and earlier each year, and the main reason is that adults can help but buy a few bags - and they usually devour them long before the holiday. Last year, marketers found that having Halloween candy out during the back to school sales helped move product better. But this year, the candy is out even before the big school supply displays! At the risk of sounding like an old fuddy-duddy, follow the calendar, will you?
The stores can put their products out whenever they want, and they obviously wouldn't do it if people didn't buy them. But with radio stations starting to playing Christmas music in October and Halloween candy out less than a week after the Fourth of July, there will eventually be a consumer backlash. How fresh can the candy in those trick or treat bags be if manufacturers had it ready to ship to stores in June?
Halloween-related sales are expected to top five billion dollars for the first time this year, but I'm not playing into their hands. I refuse to buy a single piece of Halloween candy until at least... August.
Jeff Field
NBC Action News Executive Producer