Happy *insert fake holiday here* Day! Did you celebrate National Daughter's Day or National Son's Day this week? Today is National/International Coffee Day, did you know? Are you annoyed by all of the fake and made-up holidays? Do you have the sense that there are more holidays now than ever before? Well, according to this Business Insider article, you're correct — more and more corporations are creating fake holidays. They explain:
Many of our favorite holidays were invented by brands to pad sales. There is no official body that approves holidays in the United States (Congress can only set federal holidays), which is why there are so many of them. "Fake" holidays succeed when they offer either fun or strengthen an emotional connection to food or a cause.
It seems like every day is a holiday now, an ode to some food, cause, or even a facetious accent. Thanks to social media, brands and consumers alike can think up new holidays wholesale and promote them to a wide audience.
For example, while Halloween wasn't created by a company, the candy industry at the start of the 20th century tried to turn the second Saturday in October into Candy Day, The Atlantic reported. That is until Halloween proved a more suitable candy-centered holiday. Call it a half-win.
The article then presents a brief history of ten corporate-created holidays, including National Pancake Day, National Rotisserie Chicken Day, National/International Coffee Day, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Record Store Day. So why do so many of us celebrate these made-up holidays that basically exist to drive sales for particular products? In James Hamblin's 2019 piece in The Atlantic, "The Devastating Truth about National Avocado Day," he explores, "Why millions of people are extremely eager to celebrate fake holidays sponsored by corporations."
The gist is, basically, that current events are so dire and awful and overwhelming that people want to embrace something simpler and more 'fun,' as an attempt to block out everything else:
People want the opportunity to talk about fun and barely consequential things. As everything happening online collapses into a single social-media feed, people feel they need a reason to talk about something other than what's clearly more important news. National days offer an excuse—an invitation, even—to transgress. "In this day and age, when everything is so serious, it's nice to have a little fun," LaVallie [Amy LaVallie, who works for the website National Day Calendar] says, "even if it's just celebrating a cookie day."
Hamblin goes on to critique the corporate manipulation of it all, however:
Of course, it's one thing to celebrate cookies of your own volition. It's another to talk about cookies because a coalition of multinational corporations is, at any level, coaxing you into it, and using your love of cookies to get you to join a dating app. If national days are growing in number and popularity because people want a simple escape from consequential dialogue, there is sadness even in people earnestly celebrating National Ice Cream Day.