If you remember back to last summer, the Halloween and Costume
Association started a petition to change the date of Halloween from Oct. 31
to the last Saturday of the month. You voted and though 62 percent of you were not in favor of it, the
conversation is not over yet by any means. Almost 150,000 people have signed the online petition, urging the Federal government to make the change, citing the
safety of kids as their chief motivation, including “3,800 Halloween-related
injuries each year.” With this change, they are hoping that Halloween becomes a
daytime event with block parties and parades, instead of dangerous trick-or-treating
in the dark.
Recently the discussion picked up steam when Snickers
decided to sweeten the deal with 1 million free Snickers bars if the government
makes the change official.
Instead of people cheering at the idea of free candy, many were
chafed by the thought of change, vowing to never buy the Mars Inc.-owned candy again.
There were many good-sounding reasons why the change should
not be made. For one, wouldn’t a weekend celebration increase the amount of
rowdy revelers?
Others pointed out that the date of Halloween has actual religious roots for some and changing it would be akin to moving
Christmas for convenience:
And anyway, if Halloween isn’t even a federal holiday, what good
could the federal government do anyway?
There’s definitely two sides to this debate though. As mad as
many seemed to be on Twitter, some really liked the idea though:
Both sides have good arguments. But how about one of these
compromises?
So what do you think? Have you been swayed by either of these
arguments?