Commercialization of Christmas

Since the late 1800's the economic importance of Christmas has lead to concerns over what is seen as the increasing commercialization of Christmas.
The 1822 poem "A Visit from Saint Nicholas" had popularized the tradition of exchanging gifts and seasonal “Christmas shopping” began to assume economic importance.
In her 1850 book "The First Christmas in New England", Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a character who complained that the true meaning of Christmas was being lost in a shopping spree.
The importance of the economic impact of Christmas was reinforced in the 1930's when President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed moving the Thanksgiving holiday date to extend the Christmas shopping season and boost the economy during the Great Depression.
Religious leaders protested this move, with a 1931 New York Times roundup of Christmas sermons showing the most common theme as the dangers of an increasingly commercial Christmas.
In 1958 Stan Freberg and Daws Butler recorded the audio theater satire Green Chri$tma$, recasting Ebenezer Scrooge and Bob Cratchit in the rolls of advertising executives. Due to the controversial nature of the piece, it recieved no commercial airplay until 1983.

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