Holiday Commercials again a source of irritation

There was a time back in the mid-nineties when Santa was portrayed as being full of vice. There was a commercial for some kind of chicken nuggets and Santa ate them while an elf looked on hungrily. Selfish Santa? The reverse of gift-giving Santa. Santa ogled, he lied, he engaged in all kinds of bad, anti-Santa behavior contrary to the Christmas spirit. I think this whole business culminated in the Bad Santa movie. For several years, either my lack of TV watching or the absence of a sustained message in commercials using Holiday themes, nothing struck me as quite so offensive. This year I have detected a growing theme that is both pervasive and hostile to the spirit of Christmas: "don't forget to get yourself some gifts!" There are two problems here, one ideological, one practical. Christmas is the season for giving, not looking out for yourself. Do that in the after-Christmas sales. Which leads to my second complaint, helpfully offered by my sister, who reminds me that its hard enough to buy gifts for people without people buying for themselves. Buying after Christmas for thyself solves two problems, one, you can devote yourself to giving for Christmas, and second, you can fill in any gaps from your wish list once you have received your gifts. Plus its on sale. The advertisers who put out the message that its OK to grab a little for yourself undermine the purpose of the holidays. Its not as bad as foul depictions of Santa, since that harms kids, but its no good.