A Dior Calendar for $11K? Here’s how the humble advent calendar has become useless

Although its origins are religious, you probably know the advent calendar as a simple grocery store product that featured 24 chocolates hidden behind perforated cardboard doors.

That sweet countdown to Christmas dates back to the 1950s when the first chocolate versions came on the scene. Robert Warren, a Canadian marketing expert who closely tracks Christmas trends, says Cadbury began mass marketing in 1971 as a tool to connect children with the Christian tradition of Advent.

“What we’ve seen now is that it’s become completely commercialized,” said Warren, who currently teaches marketing at the University of North Dakota. In Grand Forks.

Today you can buy an advent calendar that includes almost any product you can imagine, from Lego to whiskey, ice cream to jewelry, sex toys to fishing lures. The promotion also includes influencers whose TikTok videos show them unboxing luxury advent calendars with outrageous prices, such as one calendar from Dior that cost $11,000.

WATCH: An influencer unboxes an advent calendar that’s worth $11,000 CDN

Warren told cost of living This is part of a pattern known as “Christmas creep”, where businesses begin marketing holiday-related products earlier and earlier in the year so that consumers eventually spend more money.

“What you’re seeing is that as all these different brands start figuring out ways to reach customers earlier in the Christmas season, advent calendars have become an easy way to do that,” Warren said.

Plus, younger consumers value the experience of opening something every day, he says.

That’s certainly the case for Maya Warwick Brunelle, 26, of Montreal. Her mother moved to Vancouver, but for the past three years he has sent her an advent calendar – Bonne Maman with 24 little jars of jam – and she gets the same for herself.

Although they won’t be together at Christmas, the advent calendar provides a way for them to stay connected over their shared love of jam. And they both love reusing glass jars.

Retailing around $60, it’s a far cry from the Dior calendar, and also a far cry from Tiffany’s jewelry version, which is reported to be priced at US$112,000.

Warwick Brunelle said, “It’s a nice little gift every day.”

limited edition appeal

Some of those recipes include limited-edition jams that are available only once per year, and that’s “a very specific marketing strategy,” said Lily Lin, associate professor of marketing at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C.

This sends the message that “if you lose, you may regret it,” Lynn said. “If it’s widely available, it’s not as specific.”

But there’s some other marketing psychology behind it, she says.

“A lot of it is anticipation of an event. And there is Research is showing Sometimes anticipating or planning an event can be even more exciting than the event itself. So I think the advent calendar, the countdown, plays some role in it.

Lin says some of this is being driven by Gen Z and younger consumers.

“You’ve probably heard about younger consumers getting really into makeup and self-care, which is an interesting trend,” she said. The mountain of social media content about these product categories is fueling it, she says, which might explain why your 11-year-old wants a $127 advent calendar from Sephora.

“I would say it’s a difficult thing right now because of the economy and the hardship that people are going through,” Lynn said. “So it’s one thing that these young consumers want these products, but on the other hand, it’s a financial burden.”

Christine Lan, a Montreal content creator whose “de-influencer” videos offer tips on how to live more frugally and sustainably, points out that young people’s online lives have changed social comparison.

“Growing up, we had no one to compare ourselves to except our neighbors or people who were in the same social class as us,” said Lan, who is also the mother of two teenagers. “But now with social media, you know, a 12-year-old can see Paris Hilton or the Kardashians eating a lot of things and they want the same thing.”

Certified Financial Planner Shannon Lee Simmons explains the current Social media “has elevated what we consider normal to financial ugliness.”

High impact on wallet and environment

And although the idea of ​​spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on an advent calendar, at first glance, seems to be in direct conflict with the affordability crisis affecting many Canadians, Lan says she believes they may be connected.

“Because everything is really expensive and most young people can’t afford to buy a house anymore, I think with the income that they have, they’ll probably spend money on a luxury item because that’s what’s more attainable for them,” Lan said.

The impact on landfills also concerns her, as advent calendars contain a lot of packaging for relatively little product.

“The environmental impact of (this) overconsumption is dire.”