The celebration of Halloween, on October 31 each year, can be contentious. Is it just an excuse for some harmless fun, and the consumption of chocolate and sweets, or is it something more sinister?
Halloween is a contraction of “All Hallows’ Evening” and it refers to the night before a Christian feast day dedicated to remembering the dead.
It has morphed into an annual evening of morbidly-themed pranks and other shenanigans, first in the United States and now throughout the western world. But does it have a place in the UAE?
We posed that and other questions to respondents of our TaskSpotting survey.
TaskSpotting describes itself as the region’s only advocate marketing platform and pitches our questions to its app community who typically engage with brands to create content, spread awareness and share feedback.
Of the 3,785 respondents, just over a third said they would celebrate Halloween, although only a quarter of them thought it was relevant to the UAE.
Respondents were split 48-52 on whether it was safe for children to “trick or treat”, and nearly 60 per cent thought Halloween encouraged unhealthy eating habits.
