If there's one thing my mum complains about annually without fail, it's something along the lines of, "Christmas seems to come earlier and earlier every year" - followed by angry mutterings about how Christmas wouldn't even happen if it wasn't for her.
Well, it seems like she's not the only Grinch sniping about the silly season, with plenty of Kiwis scandalised after spotting Christmas-themed chocolates already on sale at Countdown.
Taking to the New Zealand subreddit on Saturday, u/foln1 shared a snap of Santa and reindeer-themed chocolates on sale at a Countdown supermarket, captioning the pic: "Calm down, Countdown."
It didn't take long for fellow New Zealanders to share their spite at the supermarket, with many complaining of the "audacity" to push Christmas products three months in advance.
"They have Christmas decorations at Bunnings already," another outraged Redditor pitched in.
"[Are] we just skipping Halloween now? Okay," a second added, with a third agreeing: "Damn, they've all collectively decided to just skip Halloween and go straight to Christmas."
"Oh my God, it's f**king September. It's bad enough that they do Christmas songs from November... nobody needs to spend a quarter of the year listening to how it's a white snowy wonderland when it's f**king 32 degrees outside," a fourth raged.
"It's. Not. Even. October. BRUH," a fifth seethed, with a sixth adding: "It's a full QUARTER OF THE YEAR away from Xmas [and there's] pressure to buy crap."
"Those reindeer are utterly adorable," one fan of the festivities waded in, to which the OP (original poster) conceded: "They are! Give it three months and I might buy one."
The 'Christmas creep' is not a new phenomenon. The term refers to a merchandising technique in which retailers introduce Christmas-themed merchandise before the traditional start of the holiday season, which in the US is the day after Thanksgiving - the fourth Thursday in November. It's believed the term was first coined in the 1980s.
With the dreaded Christmas creep already landing everyone on the naughty list, Newshub decided to get to the bottom of why Countdown is ringing in the silly season so far in advance.
A spokesperson for the supermarket confirmed to Newshub that the delivery of Christmas products is staggered into Countdown's stores to help manage the space.
"We also know from experience and customer feedback that people do actually start getting into gear about now with their Christmas planning, even though it might seem early to some," the spokesperson added.
"We know some like to purchase products early and have them stashed away to help spread out their Christmas budgets, and others like to taste test products and recipes to ensure they hit the spot on the big day."
The spokesperson explained there is an early focus on stocking the shelves with the likes of advent calendars and Christmas cake ingredients, in preparation for the festivities. In the weeks before Christmas, that focus shifts to fresh products such as berries, hams and food for the barbie.
"We know lots of people also prefer to do their shopping later on, and there'll be plenty of products available over the coming months for those customers too," they said.
