Campaign Ads Are Keeping The Christmas Creep Off TV

Whatever your political persuasion, you’ve probably already had it up to here (imagine me holding my hand slightly above my head) with the campaign ads flooding the airwaves. But in the grand Consumerist tradition of looking for a silver lining around every storm cloud, there’s good news for people who hate seeing holiday-themed ads in October.

According to Ad Age, the lead-up to this Election Day will be dominated by campaign spots — especially those of the Presidential variety — so some big retailers like Best Buy and Kmart likely won’t be making their holiday push until after the polls are closed.

“[I]f they can, they’ll stay away from the swing states until right after the election,” a senior VP at the National Retail Federation tells Ad Age. “The ads are really expensive during that peak time, and there’s a lot of clutter to break through…

“This year could be worse, because it’s a lot more vocal,” he adds. “The spend is enormous for the campaigns compared to previous campaigns and that changes the availability of media.”

But the NRF doesn’t think the delay in advertising will harm the holiday shopping season. In fact, the organization is expecting holiday sales to reach $586.1 billion, an increase of 4.1%.

Meet the creep

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