Shopping Mall Claims Holidays Are NOT About Spending Money

Last night during Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!, Charlie complained about the flagrant commercialization of Christmas. If creatives ever felt the way he did, they're probably well over it out of professional necessity. I know I am, and I just blog here.

Adding to our jaded perspective of how things operate in Ad Land's warped universe, Cherry Creek North -- a high-end shopping mall, mind you -- worked with CULTIVATOR ADVERTISING & DESIGN/Denver to launch The Yuletide Project. Its goal is to remind holiday shoppers that the holidays are about more than frequent wallet molestation.

Each (charming! adorable! candy-striped!) Yuletide Project print/banner ad suggests ways to lift spirits without spending any dosh. Variants:

o "Invite a crowd of people to catch snowflakes on their tongues." Hey, that happened on Charlie Brown last night, too. Sally (I think?) was all, "Needs sugar."
o "Write a holiday greeting on a snow covered car window." Aww. That'd make a really cute TV spot.
o "Stick a holiday bow on someone's back." You mean like a human Lexus?
o "Change your ringtone to your favorite holiday tune."

The pieces end, somewhat antithetically, with "Find the reason for the season at Cherry Creek North." Wait -- could that "reason for the season" be more stuff in exchange for my money? They're sure as hell not airing a free nativity play.