ABC News has issued the alert: shoppers in Tampa are "startled" to see Christmas decorations up for sale at a Sam's Club.
Even though the store manager states that "This is earlier than last year but we've had it up as early as July before" the article insists that shoppers "may not want to linger for long" at the Sam's Club. (ABC didn't get a quote from a single "startled" shopper, by the way).
In Orlando, a local TV station made a similar observation.
This non-news event is reported as news because the media has a strong anti-Christmas bias. Even though many stores promote "Christmas in July" without much media notice the presence of Christmas product on shelves in August or September coupled with advertisements promoting the season ahead seems to always gain their attention. Calling the phenomenon "Christmas creep" the media goes all out to alert the masses that Christmas is "too early".
Many say this is an American trend. But media all over the world has jumped on it in recent years.
Here's a complaint about a Christmas shop opening in Ireland.
And it's not just limited to Christmas. Here is a nag about seeing pumpkin flavored goodies at Starbucks too soon. In Phoenix, they don't like Pumpkin beer too early either.
In Australia, retailers are fighting back against the negative press, claiming that early Christmas is exactly what shoppers want.