Snickers® really dissatisfied with October 31st

Many people know what Halloween is about with most family traditions dating back years. Some traditions are akin to a personal family one where the lady of the house would “sweep out all the ghosts and goblins” once the children had their bags full of candy.

Quite a few people even know the Halloween tradition was born from Samhain, a holiday that marked the end of harvest season and the beginning of winter. What began as Celtics dressing up to ward off evil spirits to ensure a good spring, turned into children knocking on neighbors’ doors, asking for food in exchange for prayer. That tradition then morphed into the present day Halloween.

Another part of holiday that is steeped in tradition is the date on which it falls. October 31 has always been earmarked as the day little ghosts, goblins and princesses troll the neighborhood trying to make their plastic pumpkins as full as possible.

Ironically, a company with its own decades-long tradition is trying to change the date of Halloween. A petition was started to move Halloween from a fixed date to a roving day — from October 31 to the last Saturday of the month.

So far, the petition has garnered over 148,610 of the 150,000 goal. Snickers decided to “sweeten the deal” and offer one million Snickers bars if the date is changed.

Why would a billion dollar company jump on the band wagon for something so seemingly insignificant? Reports show that Snickers, along with the Halloween and Costume Association, seems to think having the frightful festivities on a Saturday will make it safer for the children.

While some agree with that sentiment, others think it is Snickers’ veiled attempt at raking in more dough. Some Snickers customers took to Twitter to voice their outrage, questioning the company’s true reason for wanting the change. Wip Kitten Amanda questioned, “husband is FF/EMT. He was horrified by it. I found not only is traffic in general most dangerous on Saturday, drunk driving greatly increases on holidays where people do not work [the] following day. So would it be ‘safer’ or just more profitable?”

She also added “Profits before safety @Snickers? Money before children @Halloween_Assoc?”

The original petition has launched various other petitions in lieu of changing the date. One petition is asking to begin a national trick or treat day. This petition calls to leave Halloween as originally intended, and begin a day just for trick or treating. Another petition has called to make Halloween a national holiday, thus giving people the day of and the day after off of work.

There is even a petition to keep the date of Halloween as the traditional October 31. This petition currently has almost 4,200 out of the 5,000 signature goal.

One version of the petition asking the date to be changed cites that holding it on a Saturday means that nobody would have to rush home from work and school to trick or treat. Also, “Celebrating Halloween on a Saturday also means adults would be able to party without the worry of going to work the next day.”

If if was Snickers’ plan to bring in more revenue by changing the date of Halloween, it seems it might have backfired a bit. Countless comments on the company’s twitter page vow to no longer purchase the peanut filled candy bar — even though the amount of boycotters is probably a drop in the bucket compared to their sales.

However, after reading both sides, one has to beg the main question about this entire movement; is it really about the safety of the children?