Halloween Spending, Horror Movies, and Wealth-Building

When I was growing up, Halloween was celebrated by kids driven by a single-minded purpose: collect lots and lots of candy.  However, the holiday has evolved into a celebration for adults, too. If you took a walk in my neighborhood you might think it was a national holiday. In fact, Americans spend over $11 Billion celebrating Halloween last year.

What’s so special about this holiday?

• We eat things that taste good–namely sugar.

• We get social. I remember the first Halloween after the pandemic. I was delighted to answer the doorbell and hand out candy to the adorable kiddos. You may be attending a party tonight!.

• We do fun things. We decorate and carve pumpkins and play games.

• We pull pranks. Jimmy Kimmel offers the ultimate Halloween prank–inviting parents to tell their kids they ate all of their Halloween candy, and sending in their kids’ reactions.  Tigger alert: Dr. Phil characterizes this challenge as child abuse.
• We wear costumes. I remember going to a party in which we were invited to go dressed as the part of ourselves we try to hide. It was a liberating experience!
• We celebrate horror. An article published in the Harvard Business Review  entitled The Psychology Behind Why We Love (or Hate) Horror written by associate professors at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and the Nanyang Business School in Singapore explores the boom in horror movies.Here’s what they report:
  
  1. People watch horror movies because they seek mental and physical stimulation.2. People want to have a novel experience in a safe place.

  3. People want to explore the dark side of the human psyche.

  As they studied 82 counties, and the found that nations with higher GDP consumed more horror movies. They did not see this trend with other genres of movies like rom-coms. The authors suggest that you must have a financial foundation of safety to want to consume horror.

  This makes me curious: is there a correlation between your clients’ enthusiasm for watching horror movies and their propensity to jump into dumb doctor deals? In other words, how many of your clients make “Halloween investing choices” that reflect an urge to seek thrills, enjoy novelty or explore a part of themselves they like to keep hidden?

  Please let me know what you think!

  PS Click here to register for the Nov 5th Masterclass How to Engage Doctors with Gifts: Why It Works and How to Get It Right.” You’ll take away tips to help you strategically give gifts in ways that accelerates your practice growth.

  ​​​​​​​PPS Our next live group coaching –held on the first and third Thursdays of the month– is coming up November 7th at 9 AM Pacific.