Christmas, the time of year when we all discuss cutting back and vow not to get carried away with the hype… And you’d think this was the plan for 2017 given a YouGov Report looking into Christmas spending intentions which revealed that 30% of people expect to spend less this Christmas overall than they did last year…
But according to analysts at Kantar Worldpanel, today, Friday, December 22 2017, is on course to be the UK’s highest-spending food shopping day ever! With predictions revealing that in the UK, shoppers will have spent a record £4.2bn on food and drink in the final week before Christmas.
That’s an awful lot of sprouts, mince pies and turkeys (as an aside, the UK Brussels Sprouts industry is worth £650 million, and the area of the country covered by Brussels Sprouts fields is the equivalent to 3,240 football pitches – there’s a fact to impress the relatives!)!
And with the food shop looking set to be bigger than ever, spare a thought for our waistbands!
According to a survey by manufacturer Wren Kitchens, almost three-quarters of Brits try not to think about their escalating calorie counts as they indulge in seasonal treats. 60% of the 2,000 respondents in the report even went as far as saying that they consider Christmas their “get out of jail free” card and gorge on whatever they please. This is probably just as well as the survey also revealed that the average calories consumed on Christmas Day is 5,373!! Time to start planning that New Year health kick?
It’s against this background of undoubted gluttony that at Escapade we decided to support our local foodbank this year. With foodbank usage continuing to rise, at a rate of 7% YoY it’s certainly time to take a different food for thought.
But ending the year on a high… 2017 has undoubtedly seen the coming of age of the Christmas jumper. According to Matalan, 82% of people surveyed own a Christmas jumper, with 25-34 year olds the most likely to buy one. More than 75% of people buy their festive jumper to wear for a work event, whilst over half wear one on Christmas Day. This year though, the Christmas jumper phenomenon took things a step further with Aldi’s launch of the matching pet jumper!
May your Christmas be filled with many matching jumpers!
Our consumer PR team specialise in connecting everyday brands with everyday people across four core sectors; Consumer Lifestyle PR, Food PR, Consumer Technology PR and Sport, Wellbeing and Fitness PR. More information on these areas of knowledge can be found at www.escapadepr.com/about-us.
