If you, like me, recently walked into a CVS on a sweltering summer afternoon only to be greeted by shelves of Halloween candy in orange wrappers and immediately questioned your concept of time and space, I have good news. The current state of the world and the mind-numbing monotony of daily life in a pandemic hasn’t just warped your ability to process the passage of time: Halloween candy actually is coming out early this year.
With Halloween, much like every other aspect of our lives, in limbo this year, candy companies are trying to get an early start in case the world completely implodes before October.
Phil Stanley, Hershey’s global chief sales officer, told CNN Business that more stores have launched their Halloween displays two to four weeks earlier than their typical late-August/early-September debut in an attempt to extend the Halloween shopping season. Meanwhile, Hershey is also limiting its Halloween packaging this year, keeping more candy in its traditional wrappers, just in case Halloween doesn’t happen.
This shift away from overt Halloween packaging might even be better suited to traditional Halloween candy shopping habits. According to Stanley, more than half of Halloween candy is actually purchased by adults, for adults to fill office and home candy bowls. And let’s not forget the ongoing need for a little pandemic stress eating. Packages popular during the Halloween season, like multi-pack bags with individually wrapped “fun size” candies, have reportedly sold well during the pandemic, as panic shoppers race to stock their pantries with emergency comfort food.
Anyway, time isn’t real, seasons don’t matter anymore, so sure, let’s just have Halloween now. Happy Halloween everyone.
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