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Much like one’s waistband after Thanksgiving dinner, the November calendar is bursting at the seams with holidays. Sure, there’s turkey day—but we can’t forget about National Parfait Day (Nov. 25), National Sandwich Day (Nov. 3), or the ever- popular National Deviled Egg Day (Nov. 2).

Certainly, Hallmark doesn’t carry a greeting card for National Fruitcake Day (Dec. 27), which—according to Kogod marketing professor Michael Mazis—is probably why most people have never heard of the “holiday” celebrating the revered (or reviled) Christmas treat. Much like Valentine’s Day, where consumers are blitzed with ads from florists, jewelers, candy makers, and good ol’ Victoria’s Secret, Mazis says several industries have to get behind a holiday to propel it into the mainstream. And sadly for the folks at Campbell Soup, it doesn’t look as if that will happen anytime soon for National Gazpacho Day (Dec. 6).

Mazis says he hasn’t done any official research on these “occasions.” (Dubbing something like Bratwurst Day a “holiday” might be pushing it, he says.) However, he’s observant, claiming his marketing expertise means “my antenna’s probably a little higher than the average person’s.”

Furthermore, Mazis is knowledgeable enough about the phenomenon to create his own food “occasion,” if he so desired. It’s as simple, he says, as churning out a press release.

“Industries just make something up, then try to get PR for their particular holiday, to get it on people’s radar screens. Perhaps they do that by sending recipes to a food editor.” Because the recipes correspond with a holiday, whether it’s Maple Syrup Saturday (the third Saturday in March) or National Watermelon Day (Aug. 3), the food writers have an instant angle.

“If it’s National Potato Chip Week, that gives them a good reason to run recipes that involve potato chips. All media are looking for stories; they have pages to fill or TV time to fill. And for people in the potato chip industry, for example, that’s a vehicle that can be used to build public awareness of a particular product.”
Mazis admits, though, that most of these “low-level occasions” don’t have much of an impact on sales. It could be that—in addition to lacking the push from several different industries—there’s no “guilt factor” attached to something like National Roast Suckling Pig Day (Dec. 18). And it’s that “guilt factor,” says Mazis, that often gives consumers that extra motivation to open their wallets.

“People feel, for example, that if they don’t take their office staff out to lunch on Secretary’s Day, the office morale is going to plummet.”

Mazis also points to Valentine’s Day when consumers are inundated with messages that—if they really love their significant other—they’ll shell out for chocolate, roses, or a slinky red something. “And if you don’t,” he says with a laugh, “it’s like you’ve committed some sort of crime.”

However, Mazis says it’s not Oatmeal Muffin Day (Dec. 19) or Thanksgiving, but rather the holidays in between, like Grandparent’s Day, that most intrigue him.

“In essence, these are holidays that exist, but they may have a low level of relevance to consumers. Then certain food companies promote this holiday as being a major event and increase its importance, thereby increasing the sales of the product.” He points to Cinco de Mayo and St. Patrick’s Day as examples.

“Cinco de Mayo, obviously a Mexican holiday but not terribly well known in the U.S. until recently, has become a big occasion for people to just drink. So bars, in particular, have really promoted this as an occasion to go out and celebrate and maybe overconsume a little.

“The same is true of St. Patrick’s Day. A lot of people in the bars on that day aren’t even Irish! They just want to celebrate and feel festive.”

Mazis recalls the book, The Tipping Point, and says special days like Cinco de Mayo and Grandparent’s Day will probably become more mainstream once a certain percentage of the population adopts them, thus “tipping [them] over to make it required.”

“In other words, not everyone has to initially jump on it, but maybe if 30 percent of the people observe it, it’s a big enough fraction that it tips the balance over so other people feel like they’re obliged. For Valentine’s Day we’re way past the tipping point and for some of the others, I don’t think we’re quite there yet.”

As for the odds of tipping public awareness in favor of National Omelet Day (June 4), Mazis is slightly less optimistic. The marketing expert says he simply won’t put his eggs in that basket.