About half of Ontarians are getting into the spooky spirit for Halloween this year, according to a new poll.
On Monday, Maru Public Opinion revealed 52 per cent of Ontarians are donning Halloween costumes and handing out candy for trick-or-treaters. This is nearly a 20 per cent difference to the number of Atlantic Canadians celebrating the frightening evening, with 71 per cent of pollsters in the region rising to the occasion.
Across Canada, 18 to 34-year-olds are the most deadly serious about Halloween, with 65 per cent confirming they plan to go out for witching hour.
The poll also revealed high income earners, those earning $100,000 per year or more, are more likely to carve time out for Halloween than those who make less than $50,000 a year, with a 14 per cent difference between the two groups.
While the poll didn’t state reasons why some are opting out of Halloween this season, it could be due to the rising costs of Halloween treats.
David Soberman, a marketing professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, told CTV News Toronto the price of some of the ingredients in Halloween treats could be impacting the size of candies.
“There has been an increase in the price of sugar, and also in the price of chocolate, which are two of the major ingredients that go in the production of Halloween candies,” Soberman said.
As of October, the retail price for sugar in Canada ranges between $1.35 and $3.10 per kilogram. The price of sugar is also at an all-time high since 2011, according to the director of Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University Sylvain Charlebois, and cocoa prices are the highest they have been in 44 years.
“The other thing is that all the products that we have in the grocery store are subject to inflationary pressure because distribution is more expensive and so are salaries,” Soberman said.
Neal Chauhan, a Toronto-based TikTok creator and founder of Toy Soldier Marketing, shared pictures to his account on Friday revealing what was inside some of the fun-sized Halloween candies and chocolate offered in variety boxes.
In the photos, a bag of peanut M&Ms had just five pieces inside and a Twix bar was about two-thirds of its package size.
“It’s the overall size that is kind of shrinking, you can’t really hide it as well with typical chocolate bars,” Chauhan said.
Charlebois estimates the average Canadian household will spend $25 to $40 on Halloween candy alone.
Maru’s poll surveyed a random selection of 1,543 Canadian adults from Sept. 18 to 19, which were subsequently weighted by education, age, gender and region to match the population, according to Census data. A probability sample of this size has an estimated margin of error of +/- 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20, for comparison purposes.
