Have you wondered how the Food/Beverage Industry uses holidays and enormous events like Christmas, the Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day to make more of a profit? The Food and Industry earn more than 140 million a year from their sales of product in which during holidays, companies use advertising tools to double their profits.
An example of one of these holidays products can be seen in McDonald’s Saint Patrick day drink, the famous Shamrock Shake. The Shamrock Shake was invented in 1967 by Connecticut McDonald’s owner Hal Rosen to celebrate the Emerald Isle’s most famous holiday, Saint Patrick’s Day. The Shamrock Shake then debuted nationally 3 years later in 1970 and skyrocketed in popularity in the following years. However, by 1980, the Shamrock Shake was discontinued due to poor sales but gradually regained popularity and sales with significant technology that made Saint Patrick’s Day a bigger holiday than ever before, such as the dyeing of the Chicago River Green or New York City Irish Parade. These events have advertently boosted the Shamrock Shake’s sales have continued to grow and have been endorsed by celebrities such as Tracy Bradford and Mindy Kaling. In addition, McDonald’s Shamrock Shake has grown in popularity especially in countries such as the United States, Canada, and in Ireland.
Coca Cola also uses holidays to market their products, one example is their use of the legend of Saint Nicolas to advertise their Christmas-themed drinks when illustrator Haddon Sunbloom was commissioned in 1931 to paint Santa Clause advertisements in various stores. He altered Saint Nicholas’s appearance by giving him a white beard, fur-trimmed red suit, stocking hat, and shiny black boots to match better match Coca Cola’s brand and give him a more modern appearance in order to appear more relatable to children and adults.
Coca Cola even introduced it’s Valentine’s cards in the early 1960’s to help spread kindness and appeal to the consumer’s love to share their favorite drink with the people they care about.
This goes to show that holiday products such as Coca Cola’s Valentine cards, Coca Cola’s Christmas themed drinks, or McDonald’s Shamrock have no intention of disappearing from markets anytime in the near future as long as there are people who take part in the festivities and enjoy their products.