![Alexander Oki ‘28 picks up trash in the lower parking lot Feb. 20. According to Keep America Beautiful, the majority of the trash found on both roads and waterways consists of fast food wrappers and packaging, receipts and plastic beverage bottles. Clubs like the National Honor Society (NHS) offer students the opportunity to earn service hours by cleaning up the trash in the parking lots. “[The trash] makes us look very unhygienic and unmotivated to be a proper school,” Emberlyse Vidal ‘28 said. “It makes us look like we just don't care about our students' environments.”](https://rockmediaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/20260220_1355020-2-1200x904.jpg)
It’s a hot summer day, and you walk into Target, surrounded by pumpkins, masks and candy. Smelling the scent of sweet cinnamon and being pushed into fall as summer isn’t even over; Is it Halloween or the Fourth of July?
The once innocent community-oriented and imaginative holiday, Halloween, has transitioned into one of the most commercialized days of the year. People have easily become victims of consumerism at this time of the year. This holiday used to be a way for people to come together and be surrounded by homemade easy costumes, going to our neighbors’ to see who can get the most full-sized candy bars and carving spooky faces into pumpkins.
“It’s crazy that stores will put out decorations months in advance, it makes me feel like I’m missing out on the actual holiday and weather at that time,” Saige Tinker ‘27 said.
A main reason retail stores will put out halloween decorations early is to allow for the feeling of summer to be over quickly, as talked about in news.neweastern.edu. Summer ending and fall starting is when morality is salient, and people want to feel more in control of when things happen.
Social media has also had a heavy impact towards the lengths people will go to for Halloween. According to lendingtree.com, 48% of people plan to make purchases only on halloween goods. Including candy, costumes, and activities. Which usually end up around 150 dollars.
In the past decade, “Halloweekend” has risen as a contributing factor to consumerism. The weekend closest to Halloween is when people dress up everyday and go to parties for the next three nights, meaning they will buy different costumes for each event, which adds more to the commercialization of this event.
Many have forgotten what made this night special in the first place. Spending time with friends, seeing who can get the most candy, trading candy and being able to pick costumes we actually liked. This has now turned into a contest as to who has consumed the most. If Halloween could go back to the pure, fun, and spooky holiday it used to be without all the add-ons, it could go back to the original way it felt as a kid.