Now, the candy market appears to be invincible. Through war, recession, and natural disasters, Halloween candy sales barely suffer. At the height of the 2008 financial crisis, stocks plunged and families limited their holiday shopping. However, Halloween candy sales not only stayed steady, but they also made marginal growth. Researchers suspect that sugar's addictive properties combined with the common craving of unhealthy foods during stressful times have helped support the candy market.
As consumers have become more health-conscious and informed about what is going into their foods, many industries that produce unhealthy foods, like the soda industry, have suffered. Despite the well-known association of sugar and diabetes, teeth decay, and heart disease among others, Halloween candy sales continue to rise.
If you look at last year's sales, the candy sold only in the week of Halloween would amount to the mass of six Titanics, weighing a total of 300,000 tons.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/halloween-candy-beats-the-market-2013-10-30
https://www.vox.com/2016/10/29/13408370/halloween-candy-market-obesity
This is quite an interesting article because it seems like nothing would affect Halloween candy sales. I would think that people would spend the least money on candy during the recession, but it's crazy to see that sales actually increased. In all honesty, I think that Halloween is overrated and spending money on candy is pointless.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting observation that Halloween candy sales are constant for the most part every year. I think with most holidays like Valentines Day, Halloween, Easter, and even Christmas are all materialized a lot this day in age. Candy, stuffed animals, cards, and decorations fill up stores around these holidays in order to get people to spend money. A huge part of American culture is embracing these "traditions" and spending money on candy for halloween, cards and chocolate for valentines day, and Christmas lights and blow ups are all the norm and it is almost just a way to get people to spend money in the name of a holiday.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that we keep seeing how inelastic addictive products can be. With drugs, almost the exact same pattern of demand occurred. I wonder why specifically candy has fared better than other types of sugar though. Soda and fast food companies have struggled with more health-focused trends, but according to this, candy is doing just fine. Maybe it has to do with the celebrations like halloween and easter, but it seems like there must be something more to it.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason why sales of Halloween candy don't go down is because it has become an unshakable custom? People may think that no candy on Halloween means no holiday, so they just buy candy to make their holiday more ceremonial. In fact, many people won't eat candy even if they get it. Just as the sales of roses are always high on valentine's day, people will definitely buy something when it is a symbol, without considering whether eating too much sugar is healthy or not.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I knew a bit about Halloween's more recent traditions, I didn't know a lot about the fact that some of its origins were rooted in advertising campaigns. I think it's interesting to note how some unhealthy things are really easy to market to consumers (such as Halloween candy) when people know it's unhealthy, whereas others are becoming harder (such as soda). Part of this is probably due that it is easier to market something based around something like a holiday, where people are already excited and willing to buy themed goods.
ReplyDeleteConsidering Halloween is a staple holiday for most people this makes sense. Regardless of the market, there will constantly be a steady demand for the candy and because it is quite inexpensive regardless of most peoples' financial situations, it makes sense that they will continue to buy it for the holiday.
ReplyDeleteCandy is king! Long live king candy!
ReplyDeleteI'm not at all surprised that candy sales don't change no matter what the economy is. Candy is cheap and addictive, and people - especially kids - will always have a craving for it.
It also makes sense to me that candy sales remain robust while sweetened beverage such as sodas experience declines in sales. I believe the reason is there are many alternatives to unhealthy sweetened beverages, but there are really no good alternatives to candy.