h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: 'The Elf on the Shelf' - the Marketing Phenomenon - A87924487
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

I'm regretting this already, putting it in PeerReview now allows time for it to get to the front page for Christmas.

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Great to see this in Peer Review The Guide needs this explanation of the phenomenon

Could you give an indication of the price tag? I found them in The Works after Christmas last year and noted that they were expensive - am I right in recalling they were £20 for the book and elf (but not the skirt, of course...)?

That is shocking that the skirt is more than the Elf, book and DVD combined A cunning marketing ploy indeed - I presume there is another difference between the two types of toy that could have been replicated in the books very easily (eyelashes or something)...

Superb final paragraph

Good points those – I've added a little to describe the difference between the

As for price, July seems to be the wrong time of year to try and purchase Elf on the Shelf merchandise. If you look at their website it is desperate to avoid looking like selling toys and so just says 'see your local elf adoption centre'.

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Amazon says the RRP for July is £30! 50% discount just after Christmas makes a big difference...

What's £30? The and ? Surely not just the skirt!

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Yes, the and RRP is £30 - Amazon didn't show me the skirt, but it did show me a good variety of (considerably cheaper) non-official s

I'm not really sure about what to think of this 'tradition'. It sounds kind of awful to me. Does anyone know where in the world except for the UK people actually do this thing?

I had a look at pictures of the elves on google and they have a very much retro look to me. Like tys from the 60s or something. Not sure what I was expecting but something a bit more fancy I guess. They are really very basic. Many dolls are cheaper than that and come with more accessories!

... oh, and when did this 'tradition' start? And do all people in the UK do this now or is there a resistance?

A good Entry by the way. I have heard this enf thing mentioned online somethimes but so far wasn't interested enough to look it up.

Thanks for the comments – I've added a bit to say that the 'tradition' started in America and spread to the UK about a decade later. But you're right, for the price tag (£30! ) you're not getting much for your money, no wonder there's been an influx of cheaper versions (An Elf Behaving Badly doll which is all-but-identical but for the big ears and is only £3, which would you buy?)

I would be intrigued to hear from parents of young children in other countries – how popular is this in, say, Ireland or Canada to name but two? (And they're definitely not everywhere, it just feels like it on 1st December when you look at and see millions of photos of the things.)

I would say if you want a nice Christmas tradition, you can get Raymond Briggs' 'The Snowman' book and film for much less than that and have plenty of money left over for his underrated 'Father Christmas' books and film plus a Snowman cuddly toy. I've seen 'The Snowman' every year for almost 40 years and know it off by heart but still at the end.

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You are right, the cheaper versions look hardly any different. I'm not surprised people would rather buy that.

You are right, that would be interesting to hear. We can only hope someone comes along to tell us more.

This is a good entry, but the cold-blooded marketing is disgusting.

I don't keep up with what the frozen-gourmet-food crowd do, but this sounds like what we used to call a 'yuppie scum practice'.

Here's what I know about elves: Scandinavian Americans used to have them for Christmas decorations. Back in the 60s, a dish soap company gave out little stuffed elves with plastic faces free with a bottle of dishwashing liquid. We collected them. As you said in the entry, their hands were sewn together for hanging. We ended up sticking them in the Christmas tree or among the garlands around the house. No silly story about a 'tradition', and no after-market merchandise. Just cute little faces sticking out of the greenery.

Really interesting article, and finally I get to find out what all this Elf stuff is about.
I don't have anything else to add. Well done.

Excellent addition about the price tag and the different prices for the different versions...

Good point about their availability in shops being a problem that loses the magic, too!

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