Christmas trappings are no longer in the shop window
Pastor Dale Morgan
Christmas trappings are no longer in the shop window*
By David Derbyshire, Consumer Affairs Editor
Last Updated: 2:57am GMT 07/12/2006
Press your nose against the windows of some high street stores and you
could be forgiven for thinking that Betjeman's Christmas has been banished.
In an era when the pagan traditions of Christmas are increasingly under
fire, many shops appear to have abandoned their traditional displays in
favour of less "culturally specific" images.
Instead of wise men, Santas and reindeer, shoppers are being enticed
with topiary, skeletons and suspenders.
Church leaders believe the move reflects a worrying trend in Britain to
turn Christmas into the secular celebration of Winterval.
Yesterday, in London's Oxford Street, the displays ranged from the
austere to the downright eccentric. Selfridges has abandoned the
Nativity in its windows to tell the tale of a highwayman, Topman's
display features mannequins clutching glittering green skulls, Miss
Selfridge's has jewels and pink neon lights, while Bodyshop has a white
wreath pasted to its front window.
Karl McKeever, a shop display consultant with the company Visual
Thinking, believes too many retailers are "dumbing down" and turning
their backs on conventional Christmas displays. "They are trying to be
as polite and inoffensive as they can and they've abandoned the notion
of Yuletide," he says. "The most Christmassy it gets for many shops is
the odd snowflake. The one store we found that had any real evidence of
Christmas was Ted Baker — and that had a reindeer."
According to Mr McKeever, a good Christmas window should draw in the
shoppers, tap into emotions and inspire gift hunters. However, too many
appear to be embarrassed about Christmas.
The Bishop of Bolton said stores were falling into the trap of believing
Christmas was offensive to non-Christians. The Right Rev David Gillett,
the chairman of the Christian Muslim Forum, said: "When you talk to
other faith communities, the Muslim members are not offended by
Christmas. It's a Christian festival and they recognise that."
Selfridges insisted that its topiary and gold highwayman window display
was seasonal. "It is Christmassy in the sense that we have given our
windows some magic," said a spokesman.
House of Fraser also denied that its window, which features mannequins
dressed in 1920s fashions, was not Christmassy.
"It's sophisticated Christmas glamour," said their designer.