French Don’t Buy Halloween Costumes?Halloween Costume Ideas

Oh, its funny that the French always seem to go their own direction. I’m not saying that it is necessarily bad, but it is definitely part of their steorotype.

This is a extract of a News Article found on www.Forbes.com (Yes I do read news) :

London –

Le Halloween est mort. French newspapers say so.

“The major dailies Le Monde and Le Parisien reported on Tuesday that following some short-lived popularity, the Halloween holiday has been “pretty much buried.” The reasons seem to be a mixture of falling sales and anti-Americanism. Perchance a smattering of protectionism too.

“Our Halloween sales have been falling by half every year since 2002,” Le Monde quoted toy retailer La Grande Recre as saying.

The costume company Cesar, which should otherwise be having a blowout month, proffered the “buried” quote, adding that the death of the holiday was linked to a rise in anti-Americanism.

That likely follows the use of pumpkins, skulls and other typical Halloween imagery in the publicity campaigns of McDonald’s, Walt Disney Company, and Coca-Cola .

For the uninitiated, Halloween was not born from the mind of an American marketing executive but the Pagan Celtic celebration of Samhain in the British Isles, where it was once believed that spirits would rise from the dead and mingle with the living.”

I’ve been to France quite a few times but didn’t realise they had such a anti-american point of view?

Maybe if they has cheaper and nicer costumes like we have in London and in the USA, they would have been able to enjoy the celebration more…

You can read the orinigal article here

It All started declining after his Death

I read another News Article, (from 10-30-2003) that also confirms that Halloween has been slowly loosing its popularity in France since 2002.

“France Turning Its Back on ‘Le Halloween‘

Fri Oct 31, 1:43 AM ET

Add Business – AP to My Yahoo!

By LAURENCE FROST, AP Business Writer

PARIS – Five years after it took France by storm in a whirlwind marketing
drive launched by a lone French entrepreneur, “Le Halloween” looks set to
perform its very own disappearing act.

Parties, pumpkins and Halloween bar promotions are still on offer Friday
night, but almost everyone agrees there’s something missing this year.

The only people really spooked are retailers.

Arriving almost two decades after “trick-or-treat” entered popular
vocabulary in neighboring Britain, Halloween swiftly became a cash cow that
few French marketing directors could afford to miss.

But Richard Roizen, the businessman credited with importing the festival to
France, died earlier this year. Paris trend-watchers are predicting that
Halloween will be buried with him.”

Reference to Article found on rec.travel.europe