In 20th-century America two acronymous groups tried to rein in holiday spending madness.
Society for the Prevention of Useless Giving (S.P.U.G.)
The Progressive movement of early 20th-century America sought to reform a number of capitalist institutions and SPUG’s desire to modify aspects of Christmas giving grew out of this impulse. Formed in 1912 it aimed at the elimination of the practice of supervisors expecting to receive gifts from their underlings at Christmas. SPUG complained that this was a form of corruption and did not reflect any real affection on the part of the employees toward their superiors. Their publicity attempted to shame the supervisors and persuade the clerks not to buy these offerings; the campaign was ultimately a success.
Society to Curtail Ridiculous, Outrageous and Ostentatious Gift Exchanges (S.C.R.O.O.G.E.)
An American group founded in 1979 which sought to reform Christmas by eliminating much of its commercialism. Charles Langham of SCROOGE suggested spending a maximum of 1% of income on Christmas gifts. Its Four Principles are:
- Try to avoid giving (and receiving extremely expensive gifts, particularly the heavily advertised fad/status symbol items that are often not very useful or practical.
- Make every effort to use cash rather than credit cards to pay for the items that you do purchase.
- Emphasize gifts that involve thought and originality, such as handicraft items that you make yourself.
- Celebrate and enjoy the holidays but remember that a Merry Christmas is not for sale in any story for any amount of money.