French press declares Halloween dead

[bicentennial_baby]

PARIS (Reuters) - Halloween, ancient Celtic festival or U.S. marketing gimmick according to your point of view, is dying in France after a short-lived breakthrough, French media reported on Tuesday.

"Halloween pretty much buried," the daily le Monde reported, quoting Benoit Pousset, head of costume company Cesar, who attributed the festival's demise in France to "a cultural reaction linked to the rise of anti-Americanism."

"Our Halloween sales have been falling by half every year since 2002," Franck Mathais of toys retailer La Grande Recre told the newspaper.

A group called "Non a Halloween" set up to fight the trend, which it saw as an unwelcome intrusion fostered by purely commercial interests, even wound itself up last year.

...

Introduced in France during the 1990s, it aroused strong opposition from many who found it artificial and over commercial and the festival never caught on properly. The Catholic church was particularly skeptical.

The daily Le Parisien painted a desolate picture of abandoned pumpkins and sorry displays in isolated restaurant doorways and declared "Halloween is dead."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061031/wl_nm/life_france_halloween_dc

[Richardo]

1. I want to be in France on Halloween from now on.

:thumbsup:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

2. God I'm such a coffee geek...

I was like "'French Press,' the coffee maker? Oh, the French press...duh."

[bicentennial_baby]

3. No worries, I had the same thought as well

:D

:loveya:

[Left Is Write]

4. Me too. *sigh*

[Drum]

5. haha,

you and coffee were my first thoughts when I read this thread title:

"Hmmm, what's Haruka gonna think about that??" :eyes:

:hi:

[qnr]

9. Me too n/t

[Parche]

6. france

We We

[tjwmason]

7. Lucky France.

Looks like they've managed to see through the marketing hype.

I fear that the Brits are falling for it in every greater and more crassly tasteless numbers than ever. O tempora, o mores.

[ghostsofgiants]

8. But once it dies it'll come back as a zombie and be ten times more badass.