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France Turning Its Back on 'Le Halloween'
Basically, it was cute, sort of something to waste one`s
time and money on, but not really French. One seller said it had the "mode" attacked to it, meaning that its popularity would pass. Celtic music goes over better since Bretagne is Celtic and the language is still spoken there. Earl **** France Turning Its Back on 'Le Halloween' Fri Oct 31, 1:43 AM ET Add Business - AP to My Yahoo! By LAURENCE FROST, AP Business Writer PARIS - Five years after it took France by storm in a whirlwind marketing drive launched by a lone French entrepreneur, "Le Halloween" looks set to perform its very own disappearing act. Parties, pumpkins and Halloween bar promotions are still on offer Friday night, but almost everyone agrees there's something missing this year. The only people really spooked are retailers. Arriving almost two decades after "trick-or-treat" entered popular vocabulary in neighboring Britain, Halloween swiftly became a cash cow that few French marketing directors could afford to miss. But Richard Roizen, the businessman credited with importing the festival to France, died earlier this year. Paris trend-watchers are predicting that Halloween will be buried with him. As chairman and chief executive of Cesar ‹ once a brand of masks worn to 19th century balls ‹ Roizen transformed the firm into the world's largest costume maker with annual revenue of euro122 million ($142 million). Attending Chicago's Halloween trade show, the annual gathering par excellence for makers of creepy masks and rubber spiders, he quickly grasped the potential for his home market. "He struggled for years to bring Halloween to France," says Franck Matthais, head of advertising for French toy store chain La Grande Recre. Things took off in the autumn of 1998. "We were in a euphoric mood because France had just won the soccer World Cup," Matthais recalled. "Halloween worked very well indeed." By 2000-2001, when it peaked, Coca Cola and mobile phone operator Orange had jumped on the bandwagon ‹ even though their products have no obvious connection to Halloween. Bakery windows were crammed with marzipan pumpkins and spidery confections. Since then, however, Halloween has had "less impact each year," Matthais said in an interview. Last year, he spent euro150,000 ($175,000) on spooky decorations for the toy chain's 86 outlets, as well as in-store face painting for kids. And this year's budget? "Zero," he said. "There are virtually no Halloween products in the shops." The same goes for the Bakery Julien, near Paris's fashionable Champs Elysees, where there is not a single pumpkin in sight. Instead, its window is adorned with figurines of saints. All Saints' Day on Saturday, and Sunday's Festival of the Dead, are major dates in the French religious calendar. "We're doing anti-Halloween," bakery owner Gontran Julien quipped. Julien is not alone. Radio advertisements for Flunch, a fast food chain, urge diners to "escape Halloween" by seeking refuge in their restaurants, where they will instead be confronted with special menus celebrating the "Ancient Gauls' New Year". The chain is offering mead, a medieval alcoholic drink made from honey, for diners to wash down large slabs of meat and other foods deemed authentically Gaulish. Flunch marketing director Sophie Gilleron said she felt the tide turn against Halloween last year. "Besides, there are only so many things you can do with pumpkin," she said. Elsewhere the culture clash is more serious. French Catholic youth groups plan to demonstrate for the second year running against what they see as Halloween's trivialization of death. Despite the omens, costume company Cesar insists Halloween, the source of 15 percent of its annual sales, will long outlive its late chairman ‹ mainly as an event for children. "The French market has moved away from the gory side, it's now more about being 'scary but cute'," said marketing director Isabelle Geniez. "It's a good compromise." Nevertheless, the CREDOC ‹ a Paris-based sociological research institute ‹ says the writing is on the wall for Halloween. Not only does Halloween seem to undermine the solemnity of Sunday's Festival of the Dead, when some 9 million French people will visit relatives' graves, it has also "failed to create any of its own traditions," CREDOC director Robert Rochefort said. "It was a fashion that worked very well," he said. "But it's become a victim of its own commercialism." |
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France Turning Its Back on 'Le Halloween'
On 31/10/03 19:10, in article , "Earl
Evleth" wrote: Basically, it was cute, sort of something to waste one`s time and money on, but not really French. One seller said it had the "mode" attacked to it, meaning that its popularity would pass. Celtic music goes over better since Bretagne is Celtic and the language is still spoken there. Earl **** We had quite a few kids round, and they also visited local shops where they were well received. The kids were imaginatively outfitted and polite. Obviously not Muslims. J. |
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France Turning Its Back on 'Le Halloween'
Earl Evleth writes:
Basically, it was cute, sort of something to waste one`s time and money on, but not really French. One seller said it had the "mode" attacked to it, meaning that its popularity would pass. Celtic music goes over better since Bretagne is Celtic and the language is still spoken there. This article is interesting--I was thinking this very evening that Halloween doesn't seem to be nearly as popular as it was a year or two ago. One year I recall seeing kids all over the place in costume, and even some adults. The ones I saw today I could count on one hand. Additionally, the stores are already rushing to put up Christmas decorations. I guess Christmas is more of a sure thing than Halloween. I understand some clubs are having "Halloween dances," though, something that I don't ever recall encountering in the U.S. -- Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly. |
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France Turning Its Back on 'Le Halloween'
"Earl Evleth" wrote in message ... Basically, it was cute, sort of something to waste one`s time and money on, but not really French. One seller said it had the "mode" attacked to it, meaning that its popularity would pass. We were very surprised at the amount of halloween stuff on sale in the shops whilst we were in Lyon last October. It seemed even bigger there than it is here in the UK. Maybe the UK will follow France's lead and it will eventually die out here too, or is that just wishful thinking? Elaine |
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France Turning Its Back on 'Le Halloween'
Earl Evleth wrote:
France Turning Its Back on 'Le Halloween' How sad. Too bad. Hallwe'en is, and has always been, San Francisco's biggest party. Tuesday's high temperature was a record-setting 93°F (I think) and I said "I sure hope it's warm Friday evening". Well, not only was it not warm this evening, it was very cold. Right now it's 47°F. I doubt if it was much warmer at Midnight when we left Castro Street. Tonight in Eureka Valley there must've been close to 200,000 people of whom about 90% were made up, decorated, and/or costumed in some manner. Although we visited none, I know that there were thousands more on other neighborhood commercial streets in addition to Eureka Valley's main drag, the Four- and Five-hundred blocks of Castro Street. Polk Gulch and Broadway/Columbus (North Beach) usually have great crowds as does Mission Street in several neighborhoods, Potrero Avenue, San Bruno Avenue, Clement Street, Irving Street in at least two neighborhoods, Taraval Street, Fillmore Street, Noriega Street, Haight Street, Cole Street, Union Street (Cow Hollow), and perhaps a few others. I doubt if there's a bar in town that didn't have a "Hallowe'en Party". I have deliberately not named the beautiful two-block long part of a street in which virtually all of the houses get decorated and several have spectacular, magical, "shows" as one passes. It's all designed for children but is a treat for "children of all ages" as the RingMaster says. I'm certain the low temperature, and bit of rain around 19:30 was the reason the Castro Street show lacked the usual tits, dicks, ****s, and asses. There were miles of cleavage, though, and many legs exposed by garments cut very high. As always, some of the costumes were wonderful works showing great thought, creativity, and craftsmanship. There were a few gorgeous queens in drag but most of the drag was whimsical or comic. There was a couple, a giant penis and vagina, that we found delightful but at least one young woman thought "disgusting". There was also a Fallopian Swim Team. We were there for about five hours, getting to see the children and dogs in the early evening before the big crowds arrived around ten. I've been spending Hallowe'ens on Castro Street since I was in the Third Grade. The first time I went out in drag, in the '50s, was on Castro Street. In those days, the gay neighborhoods were Polk Gulch and North Beach although we had a gay couple for neighbors who are probably dead now but had been together, then, for many years and eventually celebrated being together for longer than 50 years. If you have only one day to spend in San Francisco, Hallowe'en is the day to do so. __________________________________________________ __________ A San Franciscan in (where else?) San Francisco http://geocities.com/dancefest/ http://geocities.com/iconoc/ ICQ: http://wwp.mirabilis.com/19098103 IClast at SFbay Net |
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France Turning Its Back on 'Le Halloween'
Elaine schrieb: "Earl Evleth" wrote in message ... Basically, it was cute, sort of something to waste one`s time and money on, but not really French. One seller said it had the "mode" attacked to it, meaning that its popularity would pass. We were very surprised at the amount of halloween stuff on sale in the shops whilst we were in Lyon last October. It seemed even bigger there than it is here in the UK. Maybe the UK will follow France's lead and it will eventually die out here too, or is that just wishful thinking? Elaine This American commercial fad has also been imported into Germany with mixed success in recent years. We had one group of kids yesterday ring on the door for a "trick or treat". November 1st has always been a public holiday here so that people can pursue the original religous purpose of Halloween, and tend the graves of their departed loved ones. T. |
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France Turning Its Back on 'Le Halloween'
Icono Clast writes:
Hallwe'en is, and has always been, San Francisco's biggest party. Isn't every day a party day in San Francisco? If you have only one day to spend in San Francisco, Hallowe'en is the day to do so. Isn't every day Halloween in San Francisco? One of the reasons I'd avoid San Francisco is that I _don't like_ massive public demonstrations with people behaving strangely in strange costumes. I don't like special events at all, as a general rule, especially those that produce crowds. -- Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly. |
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France Turning Its Back on 'Le Halloween'
wrote:
Halloween in Northern Ireland is a heady mix of high explosives and more high explosives. Oddly enough they are illegal to buy without a permit. However nobody has ever been prosecuted for buying the darn things. I expect the hospitals will be full of the wounded tomorrow. Would that the fireworks only came out on October 31 and November 5. It's almost non-stop for October and November in much of urban Britain. Kids throw firecrackers at buses, trains, each other, and apparently through the windows of the elderly (thinking of one quite horrible recent case.) Everyone says it's unfair to ban them, based on the bad behaviour of the few, but in fact, I think they're fast becoming a public nuisance. The current laws obviously have no effect. Of course, politicians don't tend to live among the masses, so they have little real idea of what people have to put up with. David -- David Horne- www.davidhorne.co.uk davidhorne (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk |
#9
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France Turning Its Back on 'Le Halloween'
In article , Elaine
writes We were very surprised at the amount of halloween stuff on sale in the shops whilst we were in Lyon last October. It seemed even bigger there than it is here in the UK. Maybe the UK will follow France's lead and it will eventually die out here too, or is that just wishful thinking? Elaine There was a lot in the UK supermarkets this year, but no-one came trick or treating and I saw no-one in fancy dress. -- Marie Lewis |
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France Turning Its Back on 'Le Halloween'
On a recent trip from here in Scotland - where Halloween was
celebrated for hundreds of years - to Nice, I was surprised to see a lot MORE Halloween decoration up in shops all over Nice than I'm ever used to seeing at home in Edinburgh. Rather startling. Anyway, by the time Halloween is near, shops here are well into their Christmas celebrations! My local supermarket has already dragged out its dreaded robot carol singing machine and set it up at the front entrance, where it'll ponderously try to look cute (it fails utterly) and sing loudly in nasty American accents until the end of the year. -- -- Chris. |
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