The dark side to Halloween: marketing unhealthy products to our children?

he use of fictional characters and festivals to sell unhealthy commodities is well established. Both Santa Claus and the Easter bunny have been employed to influence people, especially children, towards unhealthy behaviour. 1,2 Each year, on 31 October, an increasing number of witches and wizards darken the doors of Australian households, demanding free junk food. The rising popularity of Halloween in Australia leads us to question whether confectionery manufacturers are exploiting Halloween to increase sales to children. If so, might Halloween represent a public health risk? The precursor to Halloween was a Celtic festival celebrating summer's end and the new year. 3 In the ninth century, the pagan festival was replaced by All Saints and All Souls Day, 3 when dead souls in purgatory were remembered. On the evening before, All Hallows Eve, the poor would go door-to-door and receive food in exchange for praying for the souls of the dead. In the 19th century, Irish immigrants brought this custom to the United States, where it became an opportunity for revellers to prank their neighbours — the practice of trick-or-treating emerged in an attempt to buy off the pranksters. 3 Eventually confectionery replaced pumpkins as the treat of choice, as confectionery companies developed Halloween-specific advertising and marketing campaigns. As a holiday centred on consumer buy-in, Halloween is big business. In the US each year, US$8 billion is spent on Halloween-related items, 4 including US$2.4 billion on confectionery — confectionery sales at Halloween even exceed those at Easter, Christmas and Valentine's Day. 5 Market figures indicate that a quarter of Australians now plan to celebrate Halloween. 6 There is some evidence to suggest Halloween's increasing popularity has been driven by the confectionery industry in an effort to capitalise on potential profits. In the 1990s, the industry initiated a media campaign to promote Halloween in Australia, but, in 2002, the US Confectionery Industry Export Program noted slow progress: In spite of efforts in the early 1990's by the industry to establish Halloween as an event in Australia, it has been slow to develop … Specific Halloween product might drive growth further but retailer support, which historically has been wanting, is crucial. 7 More recently, an expanding array of Halloween-related merchandise in our stores suggests retailers have responded. In 2012, leading Australian supermarkets recorded increases of up to 30% in sales of such merchandise in the lead-up to Halloween. Concerns about the celebration …