Alarmed Jack O' Lantern - © c2952 via Pintrest

Mars/Ipsos ‘Unmasks’ Its 2024 Spooktacular Trends Report

After a gloomy forecast for Hallowe’en 2024 just a few days ago – and October hauntings to come – it may seem odd for me to plug a major candy maker’s Hallowe’en ‘party’ out-look. But as it turns out, Mars’ view isn’t really so different from mine…

Hallowe'en Candy Faves - © 2024 Mars

The Spooktacular Trends Report is a survey of consumer intentions vis à vis Hallowe’en spending. And though it’s presented in a high-intensity, colourful, infographic-style format, the actual numbers are not as hot as they might been just a few years ago. jun my humble opinion…

Key findings…

Planning to celebrate?
  • 78 percent plan to celebrate Hallowe’en in some way
  • 35 percent of Gen Zs plan to dress up; most of them are planning to party, too
  • 63 of Gen Xs plan to stay home and pass out candy
  • 39 percent of Millennials plan to dress up; 29 percent plan to go Trick-or-Treating (presumably with their kids…)
  • 36 Boomers say they’ll pass out candy; the rest aren’t planning to participate in any way…
Going bigger or smaller for Hallowe’en this year?
  • 11 percent plan to go bigger
  • 68 percent plan to keep their celebrations pretty much in  line with last year
  • Almost twice as many – 21 percent – plan to go smaller
Planned activities?
  • 52 percent plan to pass out candy
  • 38 percent plan to dress up
  • 20 percent will be attending Hallowe’en-themed social functions
Leftovers?
  • 36 percent say they don’t expect to have leftover candy on November 1
  • 33 percent say they do expect to have leftovers

My take

Of course, I’m a Boomer. I can remember when I was a kid, and Hallowe’en was a huge thing. Everybody participated. We started planning our costumes as much as month in advance. Most folks decorated the house and/or yard. And everybody has at least one carved and lit-up Jack O’ Lantern!

One key difference back then was folks hadn’t started giving out single-serving salty snacks, at that time. Heck, I can remember when regular sized chocolate bars were still 10 cents a piece – and folks bought them by the case to give out on Hallowe’en! But when ‘personal-sized’ chocolate bars reached 10 cents apiece, some folks decided to segue.

Somewhere along the line, chips were decisively surpassed by chocolate treats on price-per-kid. And they’ve steadily increased their share of the Hallowe’en hand-outs market ever since. I looked for some indication from the chip makers on what their sales expectations were for this Hallowe’en season. Alas, substantial details proved unavailable.

Overall… I was not surprised to find that my own instincts were more or less in line with the decidedly ‘un-Spooktacular’ findings of the Ipsos-Reid Mars poll. And according to a PepsiCo brands sales report earlier this week, about the salty snacks sector, it seems times are tough all over in the snack market…

~ Maggie J.

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