Every day, we seem to have a celebration of something, making each day a holiday. Most of them are fake holidays, but who has been creating these events?
How can you get people to buy more of your products? Simple, create a holiday out of them and share it on social media. Its easy to push your products and get people excited when they think they are celebrating along with the rest of the country. Some might think Valentine’s Day was created by greeting card companies and Easter was invented by candy companies, but neither is true. Still there are many fake holidays that have been created. Let’s find out who is creating these events.
National Pancake Day
This sounds like a made-up holiday, but in the UK and Ireland, there is an official Pancake Day, which is held on the same day as Mardi Gras. In these countries, that day is called Shrove Tuesday. The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) grabbed onto the branding opportunity and brought National Pancake Day to the United States in 2006. During this day, they give away free short stacks of pancakes and raise money for charity.
National/International Coffee Day
This fake holiday has actually been around since 1983. During that year, the All Japan Coffee Association set this holiday for October 1. Today, many countries celebrate this day, which became an international holiday in 2015 when 35 countries in the International Coffee Association signed on to celebrate the day. Despite this agreement, the United States celebrates National Coffee Day on September 29, missing the international holiday by only two days. Maybe that will change in the upcoming years.
Small Business Saturday
Consumers flock to stores on Black Friday, which is the Friday after Thanksgiving. This is a popular shopping day because many Americans don’t have to work on this Friday. The day after was developed to be Small Business Saturday. American Express created this holiday in 2010 to provide a local focus on shopping. The name of this holiday is actually trademarked by American Express, which continues to associate itself with the day. This allows both large companies and small businesses to capitalize on the spending spree in America on the days following Thanksgiving.
Record Store Day
Another of the fake holidays that you may or may not have heard about is Record Store Day. In 2007, a group of record store owners got together to create the holiday. It takes place on a Saturday in April and helped spurn a growth in vinyl record sales. In 2006 sales were at 990,000 across the country, but thanks to this holiday, sales reached 14 million in 2017. This day has become a big hit with live performances in local record stores and rare, one-day-only vinyl releases.
National 7-Eleven Day
Some of these made-up events are right on the nose and in your face. The date is July 11, which makes perfect sense, and the holiday was first advertised in 1989. It seems like it took the chain way too long to come up with this day, considering it was renamed to 7-Eleven in 1946. This is a great day to get a free Slurpee from participating stores, which the company reportedly gives out nearly 9 million every year on this holiday.
National Underwear Day
If it sounds fake, it probably is. National Underwear Day is one of the fake holidays created by a brand, in this case, Freshpair. This retailer founded the day on August 5, 2003, giving us something to celebrate under our outer garments. The company encourages people to embrace their body image and post social media images using the hashtag #NationalUnderwearDay. It’s unclear whether you’re supposed to pose in your underwear and share that image or just an image of you. Either way, this is an odd but interesting holiday.
National Rotisserie Chicken Day
You probably can guess which company created this fake holiday. Boston Mark came up with the holiday in April 2015 and its celebrated on June 2 each year. This holiday celebrate the juicy flavors and wonderful smells of rotisserie chickens and the chicken chain sells more of these chickens on this made-up holiday than any other day of the year. The holiday was quickly approved in May 2015 after the proposal was submitted to the National Day Calendar, an unofficial body that reviews these new holiday requests.
Which of these fake holidays will you celebrate? Can you think of a few other holidays that some companies might be made up or dreamed of?
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