“trick or treat!”
"Mischief without sugar"
The annual Halloween carnival has come to an end again, although this year's Halloween hit the day of the double eleven payment, and many people ridiculed themselves as "poor ghosts", but the festival is still lively. China also has the Ghost Festival, zhongyuan festival, but compared to Halloween, this traditional Chinese festival is much more deserted.
The same is the "Ghost Festival", why is the difference between the two so great? Is Zhongyuan Energy Saving like Halloween, becoming a national carnival?
● The same ghost, how can it be so bad?
Both Zhongyuan And Halloween were originally associated with primitive religious beliefs and sacrificial practices, but by now, it is difficult to find much in common.
The 15th of July in the lunar calendar is the traditional Chinese "Ghost Festival", which is called the Zhongyuan Festival in Taoism, the half of July, the 14th of July, and the Festival of Ancestor Worship in folk customs, and the Obon Festival in Buddhism. The main function of the festival is to sacrifice ghosts and gods, so on this day, people will invite dead relatives to enjoy sacrifices through sacrifice activities and corresponding rituals, and pray for these ghosts to bless themselves and their families with peace, which gave birth to the folk activities of ancestor worship, paper burning, tomb sweeping, river lanterns and so on. Zhongyuan Festival carries the ideas of "good death" and "filial piety" in traditional Chinese culture, and its overall atmosphere is solemn and solemn.
Unlike Zhongyuan Festival, the overall atmosphere of Halloween is carnival and grotesque. In the face of death, Westerners have adopted a life-and-death view that confronts death and attaches importance to personal feelings, and their attitude toward ghosts is not fear, but ridicule.
The difference between the two is not only the difference in the connotation of the festival, but also the adaptation of the zhongyuan festival to contemporary society. The Zhongyuan Festival embodies the value pursuit of traditional society, its connotation cannot adapt to the society after the change, and its material shell that carries the meaning of the festival is misaligned with the needs of modern people.
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The goods manufactured around Halloween can be described as various, and the holiday supplies such as ghost cloaks, southern lights, masks and so on are updated and iterated every year to stimulate people's desire to consume. At the same time, the halloween carnival also provides business opportunities for games, playgrounds, catering and other related industries, and the behavior of merchants creating wealth with Halloween as a gimmick has become the best medium for festival communication.
● Halloween consumption continues to rise
According to the National Retail Federation, in 2016, Halloween retail sales in the United States were as high as $8.4 billion, and per capita consumption was $82.95. On Halloween 2017, consumers spent $3.4 billion on clothing, or 37.36 percent of total spending, $3.7 billion on candy, $2.7 billion on decoration, and $400 million on greeting cards. In 2020, per capita Halloween spending reached a record high of $9.212 billion.
● Merchants Halloween marketing aspects
Mars Wrigley
To keep fans at home to celebrate Halloween during last year's home quarantine, Mars Wrigley launched a new digital Halloween experience treat town that allows users to virtually deliver candy to their friends and family. Mars used tiktok to increase treat tow awareness and app installs, which resulted in more than 123 million video views and 70,000 app installs, while brand associativity increased by 13.4%.
Disney
Disney not only released twelve posters of villains from popular animated movies, but also set off a 4-day special edition fireworks show at Shanghai Disney Resort.
Game circle
Game circle is one of the main forces of marketing activities, before Halloween, Yin and Yang Division, Hearthstone, Animal Restaurant and other games have opened Halloween exclusive missions, of which "Harry Potter: Magic Awakening" launched the "Halloween Party" event, during the event the dome of the auditorium floated carved pumpkin lights, dueling club magic candy scattered everywhere, ghosts prepared a mysterious party, the Forbidden Forest in the fog also quietly changed, this scene of the event tightly grasped the hearts of fans.
Hollywood
On October 29th, the limited Halloween cake released by the baking brand Holly Lai rushed to the hot search, causing the gluttonous ghosts to salivate.
● ZhongyuanJie: What should I do?
The 2017 "Opinions on the Implementation of the Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture Inheritance and Development Project" clearly proposed the implementation of the "Chinese Traditional Festival Revitalization Project". In the face of national policy opportunities in the new era, if Zhongyuan Festival wants to regain its vitality, it should be guided by the situation, abandon its dross, promote its essence, and give full play to the multiple functions of culture, education, entertainment and leisure, industrial economy and other aspects.
On the theme of "ghost", there are already participants in China - the ghost culture brand of Fengdu Ghost Town in Fengdu County, Chongqing (the first batch of AAAA-level tourist areas in the country).
According to the "Fengdu Yearbook", the General Office of the Chongqing Municipal Government issued the "Implementation Plan for Supporting the Development of the Tourism Economy in Fengdu County", which upgraded Fengdu tourism to a municipal cultural tourism strategy, and the ghost city famous mountain was rated as "The New Three Gorges Top Ten New Landscapes". The scenic spot has created 17 projects with a total investment of more than 31 million yuan, created a 5D sitcom, held a free ride to the temple fair, college students cosplay makeup to visit the Fengdu Temple Fair, ghost town twelve scenery selection and other activities.
In 2017, the scenic spot received a total of 13.777 million tourists throughout the year, achieving a comprehensive tourism income of 6.31 billion yuan. In 2018, Fengdu Tourism debuted on CCTV's "City One-to-One", appearing in Times Square in New York, USA, driving consumption to achieve 8.02 billion yuan.
In fact, Chinese ghost culture has a long history, in the context of the new era, according to the situation, rational development, give it the connotation of the times, add fashion elements, enrich the content of festivals and customs, it is possible to achieve a double harvest of social benefits and economic benefits, to achieve the creative transformation of cultural resources into cultural industries, to achieve the innovative development of traditional customs in the context of the new era.
Conclusion: In today's globalized world, the revival of traditional culture is a problem that cannot be ignored. We must see the difference between Zhongyuan Festival and Halloween, learn from its free and equal holiday characteristics, and give Zhongyuan Festival the festive connotation and fashion elements that adapt to modern society, so that it can be rejuvenated.
References: CNKI, 360 search
Author: Hu Yumin
Editor: Ma Haiyan
Promotion: Tang Hengyi