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Corporate marketing has helped influence the traditions we uphold during Easter.
With Easter fast approaching, America will prepare to celebrate Christianity’s holiest day … Or not?
Christians across the country will celebrate Sunday to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ; However, with each new year, American culture in general has placed less emphasis on the religious value of Easter, while placing more on its secular aspects.
The decline of Christianity in the United States is a clear factor contributing to why an egg-laying bunny receives more and more attention than the resurrection of Christ. According to Pew Research, over the past decade, there has been a 12% decline in Americans identifying as Christian, and only 65% of Americans self-identifying as such in 2019.
However, most Americans still believe in Christianity; therefore, something else must be causing this acceleration of secularization. To deduce what this X-factor may be, it helps to look at a similar holiday with massive cultural influence: Christmas.
A Vox article details how American Christmas suffered secularization in the early 1800s: A media campaign was used to transform the holiday from one commemorating the birth of Jesus to one centered on the flight of Papa’s reindeer. Noel.
Washington Irving’s 1822 Bracebridge Hall Stories, referencing ‘old’ Christmas traditions that were, in fact, Irving’s own invention; Clement Clarke Moore’s 1822 poem “The Night Before Christmas”; and, of course, the ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens from 1843 ”, the article reads. “Almost everything we think we know about Christmas, from the modern image of Santa Claus to the Christmas tree, comes from the 19th century, specifically from Protestant sources, who redeemed Christmas by making it a proper bourgeois family holiday.”
If the media is the X-factor in secularization, then Easter’s corporate branding may be the real culprit for the changing tides. Just watch the commercials on TV or the products at your local grocery store. Almost exclusively, they will feature brightly colored images of Easter eggs and the Easter bunny. The two have always played a role in celebrating the American holiday, but they are more prevalent than ever.
With at least a third of America believing in more than Christianity, corporations have secularized their marketing to reach a diverse audience. Only some Americans will appreciate Christianity-centric advertising, while most will at least accept bunny-based advertising.
This will lead Americans to begin to associate Easter with secular symbols that they see in advertising. With the religious importance of Easter becoming less and less prominent among the things associated with the holiday, the traditions involved in celebrating Easter will also begin to change. Corporate marketing has already helped drive new traditions that better fit the American consumer culture. An example of this would be the desire to buy candy and toys to give to children during Easter egg hunts or family gatherings.
While average consumers have the power to influence the market, it is equally true that the market can influence average consumers. Since many of us celebrate Easter this Sunday, it may be worth considering how our Easter traditions have changed and what has driven this change over the past decade.
