Its bloody everywhere! The sad part is I remember when the movie was released. I was a teenager at the time and apart from the usual movie fanfare and reviews that was about it. If merchandise existed I don't recall it being big.

Cut to the late 90s. Suddenly Nightmare Before Christmas merchandise is everywhere and its gotten even more widespread to this day. I would say in USA Hot Topic may have had a hand in this (or something similar) before it turned into the cliche we know it as today. As for where I live it was more specialized movie merch shops, comic shops and so on before making more mainstream store appearances.

Its been going on and building for almost 20 years to the point where it can be found anywhere. Its great if you are a fan, I'm sure you are loving it. But for someone like me who is so sick of seeing it, I don't share that love.

So by now you are possibly thinking "Why is this crotchety old bastard yelling at all the Jack Skellingtons to get off his lawn?"

Because it represents how homogenized everything is getting and Nightmare Before Christmas' mass merchandising is just a good example of it. Traditionally the goth scene was built on anti-consumerism and steering away from mainstream ways. Exclusivity to any subculture is what makes it special and stand out from the others. But now many things goths like (stuff by Tim Burton, in particular the cutesiest, most marketable thing amongst others) is in mainstream saturation.

Other companies see this working and they want in on those pseudo-spooky dollars too. Enter merchandise for stuff like Hello Kitty (but in black because dark and spooky), Emily The Strange, Ruby Gloom and various other things. Interestingly enough they target this stuff more to girls where boys tend to be targeted more by stuff like band merchandise.

So the pseudo-spooky merchandise machine snowballs and gets bigger. In theory it could be good and more kids interested in dark alternative subculture in general. But it doesn't necessarily work that way.

So kids buy that stuff and start thinking one of the following :

#1 : "I like the thing goths like. I might be goth. I should look into this" then proceeds to look into the subculture and dabble in it. The natural progression many people have from a gateway into the subculture.

#2 : "I like the thing goths like. I must be goth too! Lets go buy some Marilyn Manson CDs (or download/watch YouTube/whatever kids do with music these days) and call whatever I'm wearing right now goth!" then proceeds to annoy every goth they meet and get upset when they are told they have it all wrong.

Unfortunately kids are an excitable lot and often opt for #2. Welcome to the birth of Nu-Goth, Pastel-Goth, Hipster-Goth, Tumblr-Goth and so on. But it can all be grouped together under the name of the "Everything is goth-goth".