Expert Interviews

Donald J. Hall, Jr.
“At Hallmark, we are invited to give voice to people’s feelings—of joy and grief, of compassion and healing. We provide ways for people to express themselves and are there when they celebrate life’s seasons.”
Donald J. Hall is the current president and chief executive officer of Hallmark Cards Inc. He studied economics at Claremont McKenna University and obtained an M.B.A. from the University of Kansas. His father, Donald J. Hall, Sr., is the chairman of the board of Hallmark, and his father (Hall, Jr.’s grandfather) founded the company. Hall, Jr. joined the company in 1971 and has been involved in manufacturing, sales, product development, and creative areas.

Hall, Jr. would be a good expert on this topic because his company is all about commercialization, especially of holidays. Greeting cards are a very secular aspect of holidays, as they generally have no religious connotation and are often sent out to the masses regardless of religious affiliations. It would be interesting to ask him about his views of the “true” meaning of the holidays—are they meant to be celebrated religiously? Does the mass commercialization and resulting secularization of many holidays reduce their significance? We would also ask Hall about his thoughts on Hallmark’s (as well as other similar companies’) direct effects on the secularization of holidays. Do greeting cards and gifts cause people to lose sight of the supposed selflessness of holidays? Also, how has the success of such companies changed over the years? This could help to prove whether or not holidays are truly becoming more commercialized in our culture.
Melissa


Father Edward L. Beck, C.P.
“In this Christmas season we celebrate God who is with us.”
Father Edward L. Beck is a Roman Catholic priest and executive producer of the TV parish “The Sunday Mass.” He gives retreats, workshops, and lectures on faith and spirituality both nationally and internationally, and is also heavily involved in multimedia—TV and radio. Beck is a commentator for religious issues on TV stations CNN and Fox News.

We thought Father Beck would be a good expert to interview because he would clearly be on one side of the argument—that Christmas, as well as other holidays, should not be secularized or commercialized, but celebrated and cherished in their true religious contexts. On his website for “The Sunday Mass,” he posted a letter specifically about the Christmas 2010 season, and described to readers that Christmas is a “wondrous season” in which sadness and despair turn into joy and happiness, and darkness turns to light. It is a time for those who are suffering to take peace in God and experience relief. If we generalize this idea of Beck’s to all Christian holidays, then he would surely advocate celebrating the holy part of holidays. For him, holidays are not about commercialization and consumerism, but taking heart in God’s presence as our savior and stronghold.
Melissa


Oprah Winfrey
The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”
After an abusive childhood, Oprah went into the radio and television broadcasting business in Nashville.  She has acted as well as having her own TV show since 1986.  She has spoken publically about many things including Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy.  She has millions of dollars from all her success and her production company, Harpo Productions.  She is big on weight loss and is very public about it.  Her new TV channel starts January 1st, 2011. 
 
Oprah would be a beneficial interviewee for this topic as she is a very influential figure in America today and each year has a gift giveaway on her show where she gives away thousands of dollars worth of commercial products to the viewers of her show in the studio.  These gifts range from year to year but there is always one that is a super expensive and incredible gift.  This year, 2010, she gave away the new VW Beatle for 2012 to every member of the audience, and the car hasn’t even been released yet!  Although she isn’t a good person to ask about the true meaning of Christmas and the original Christian intent of the holiday, her yearly giveaway is quite well known and a huge event of the holiday season.  She promotes different products for Christmas on her show during this time of the year and millions of people see these products and wish to purchase some for the various family members and friends.  She endorses the commercialism of the holiday.  As a public figure and TV personality, she is more about the socialization aspect.  Many public figures are as they don’t want to lose their fan base or offend any viewers.  
Charlotte



Penne Restad
“Throughout their colonial history and well into nationhood, not only the matter of “shall” but of “how shall” Christmas be celebrated challenged Americans.”
Penne Restad is the author of the book, “Christmas in America: A History,” which provides a look at the secularization of the holiday.  Christmas is obviously Christian in nature and a very holy day for Christians everywhere.  The book covers early Pagan winter festivals to the birth of Santa Clause.  She also provides insight into how modern-day Santa Clause characterizations, along with depictions in Hollywood movies, have influenced a commercialized perception of the Christmas spirit.  She is a Senior Lecturer for the Department of History at The University of Texas at Austin.  She is part of the College of Liberal Arts.  She also specializes in American social and cultural history, public ritual, consumer culture, and national identity.  She is very interested in the intersection of gift and money economics in the late 19th century.
 
She would be a great person to interview for this topic as she specializes in the secularization and commercialization of the Christian holiday of Christmas, our main focus.  Christmas is one of the main events for Christians each and every year.  She has clearly done a lot of research in order to write a book on the topic and would provide lots of useful information to help us understand why this holiday in particular has become less religiously oriented.  She is the embodiment of our project and as a specialist and expert in the field of secularization would be able to provide more details and information than we would find ourselves on the internet, in books, and scholarly journals.
Charlotte



Harvey Cox

Harvey Gallagher Cox is one of the most respected theologians in the United States. He worked as the Hollis Research Professor of Divinity at Harvard University’s Divinity School. He recently retired from that position, but has continued his writing on religion. Much of what Cox focused on during his career was secularization of Christianity. One of his most popular books “The Secular City,” which was published in 1965, focused on the idea that God is present in the secular aspects of life in the same sense that He is present is the religious aspects.  He has written many times about religion, specifically Christianity, and it’s role in the modern world.  In his latest book “The Future of Faith,” he identified major trends in Christianity over the last two millenniums. 

A extremely knowledgeable man on the topic of religion and its history,  Cox seems like the ideal man to talk to about the secularization of Christian holidays. He proposes that capitalism itself has become a religion, suggesting that this idea of personal-gain and wealth has become more important that morals and values. As he is cited as saying that “just as a truly global market has emerged for the first time in human history, that market is functioning without moral guideposts and restraints, and it has become the most powerful institution of our age. Even nation-states can often do little to restrain or regulate it. More and more, the idea of "the market" is construed, not as a creation of culture ("made by human hands," as the Bible says about idols), but as the "natural" way things happen…” As much of the commercialism that exists in today’s holidays emerged being that we live in a capitalist nation, we would be extremely interested to here what he had to say on the topic.
Katherine



John F. Mars
"The consumer is our boss, quality is our work, and value for money is our goal."
The Mars Family is responsible for creating Mars Inc, which is one of the biggest candy producers in the world. Their corporation is responsible for creating popular candies such as M&Ms, Milky Way, Starburst, Skittles, 3 Musketeers, Snickers and Twix. The current chairman of Mars Inc. is John Franklyn Mars, son of Forrest Mars who greatly expanded the company while chairman, and grandson of original founder Frank C. Mars. Mars is currently estimated to be worth 10 billion making him one of the top 100 richest people in the world according to Forbes. Over the last century, “holiday”- themed candy has become a large part of celebrations for many American families.

Being that much of the Mars family fortune has been made because of their candy production, we thought it would be interesting to hear John Mars own views on the subject.  Although not completely responsible for this popularization, much of this is largely contributed to the Mars company.  Candy featuring secularized symbols of holidays, such as Santa and the Easter Bunny, has no doubt had some influence over the growing secular view towards originally Christian holidays. Though John’s own religion is not publically known, he was raised as an Anglican/Episcopalian. His father Forrest was known to interrupt executive meetings to call for God's help for the company, shouting, "I pray for Milky Way. I pray for Snickers..." It can be assumed that he himself is Christian, and knows the religious significance of the holidays. But Mars candies featuring secular characters and symbols have an undeniable presence during holidays. We wonder what he thinks about the effect his company's candy has had, if he thinks about it at all, and how he views these holidays himself?
Katherine