Hanukkah is less than 3 weeks away and we have already seen several cringeworthy attempts to market gifts to those of us who celebrate eight crazy nights.
From the now infamous Bed Bath & Beyond pillow that conflates Passover with Hanukkah.
To Hanukkah Harry wanting to have a word.
To this Hanukkah advent calendar that pops up on the first page of Hanukkah books on Amazon. (Advent is Latin for “coming” and is a Christian tradition that marks the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas.)
But at least “holly jolly” is better than “oy to the world?”
This is a head scratcher.
Gnomes are everywhere and they’re causing quite a debate.
We mean everywhere.
This one seems to be using a dreidel to clean out his ear?
We think this yard flag is meant for Yom Kippur but it’s being sold as “Winter Candle Bonsai Menorah Jewish Chanukah” on Amazon.
Nordstrom Rack added two extra nights to Hanukkah this year.
Taking a step back, it’s not hard to see how these mistakes happen (even if some of them aren’t forgivable). First, Jews make up a small percentage of the overall population so for many companies there’s not someone in house that can “sign off” on these designs.
Second, Hanukkah just isn’t a major retailer holiday. In fact, looking historically at the data, according to Adobe Analytics less than 1% of the sales that take place during the holiday season have “Hanukkah” in their name versus Christmas. There just isn’t a financial incentive for retailers to get Hanukkah right.
Progress is being made however, since 2018 Target has pledged to stock each of its 1,800+ stores with Hanukkah items.
Originally Published Nov 12, 2021 12:02AM EST
