Pumpkin spice is arriving in Philly earlier and earlier. What’s behind Halloween in August?

In what the company modestly suggested was the “unofficial start of the season,” Starbucks began selling its pumpkin spice latte Thursday, the earliest-ever release of its fall-themed drinks.

Jumping the gun? That starting gun went off awhile ago. Wawa rolled out its fall drink menu last week, as did doughnut colossus Krispy Kreme. Rita’s Water Ice began serving its pumpkin frozen coffee on Aug. 19, another earliest-ever installment, and 7-Eleven beat all of them with an Aug. 1 pumpkin spice debut.

And you may have noticed that autumn also has arrived at your local supermarket. Barricades of orthodontically challenged pumpkins are promoting the likes of Reese’s “werewolf tracks” peanut-butter cup variant and the Kit-Kat “ghost toasts,” and the “milk-chocolate pumpkin pie” M&M’s and the “ghoulish green” Snickers bars.

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Don’t panic. You still have time to get your Halloween costume. It really is still August. It’s just that in the marketing universe the seasons appear to be changing faster than the speed of life.

“It’s back to school in June, now,” said Richard George, emeritus professor of food marketing at St. Joseph’s University.

It’s all about raking in some autumn-themed green well before the leaves get serious about changing color, he said.

It is not clear precisely when seasonal creep began accelerating, kind of like sea-level rise, but Starbucks may have played a pioneering role.

Starbucks began selling preseason pumpkin spice lattes (or PSLs) in 2003, and “probably” was the first chain to do so, said George. The drinks became a monster hit, and although the concept has been viewed with sustained disdain by purists, the list of imitators has bordered on the infinite.

» READ MORE: The pumpkin spice coffee concept is widely disdained ... and imitated

Starbucks took a huge step across the calendar in 2018, when it announced that the autumn drinks would be available on Aug. 28, rather than in early September as in previous years. Wawa (coincidentally?) also made the calendar jump that same year, said spokesperson Lori Bruce.

This year Starbucks’ pumpkin spice is making a further incursion into summer at a time when the chain has been enduring a turbulent period. In November, workers at more than 200 stores, including in Philadelphia, staged a one-day strike to protest what they said was the company’s unwillingness to bargain a contract in good faith.

» READ MORE: Starbucks employees staged a one-day strike in November

It ousted its CEO after a year of declining profits. The new boss, Brian Niccol, will take over next month.

If past years are any barometer, PSLs should give the chain’s revenues a double-shot. Starbucks says the PSL has been unquestionably the biggest seller among its seasonal products, including those marketing during the winter holidays.

From the simple PSL concept, variations on the theme have proliferated. Starbucks’ lineup includes pumpkin cream cold brew, hot and cold pumpkin spice latte, and iced pumpkin cream chai.

This year Starbucks is adding an “iced apple crisp nondairy cream chai”, and bringing back its apple crisp oatmilk macchiato and iced apple crisp oatmilk shaken espresso.

The Wawa list includes a “pumpkin brûlée” and a “pumpkin cookies n cream smoothie” (also available with caramel drizzle).

An autumnal drink is one thing, but who the hay buys Halloween candy in August?

For the first time, said Tim LeBel, president of sales at candy giant Mars Wrigley North America, the company announced its Halloween lineup in May, when the big day still was six months away. “We know from our data that enthusiasm for the holiday is driving consumers to plan for Halloween earlier,” he said.

Halloween “is the Super Bowl for the confectionery industry,” said Carly Schildhaus, spokesperson for the National Confectioners Association.

And explaining why Halloween sales are starting during the baseball season, she cited the COVID-19 pandemic, where “people looked for little sparks of joy in challenging times.” She added, “They found seasons to be more important than ever before, including celebrating Halloween earlier than they ever had before.”

She added, “July, August sales were less pre-pandemic.”

George was skeptical of the COVID connection. It’s possible that the COVID lockdowns may have moved some people to put up Halloween decorations earlier than usual, he said, but wasn’t so sure about the early-buying candy linkage.

Even in normal times, more than two months removed from the trick-or-treat deadline, why would consumers want to stock up on all those bite-size giveaways?

They don’t, said George.

“They’re eating them,” he said, the way people who buy Oktoberfest beer in August are likely to drink it in August.

“It’s a consumable. If you have it, you eat it. People buying this stuff now, they’re not saving it for Halloween.”

In a survey of consumers by candy giant Mars Wrigley North America, a majority of the 2,250 adult respondents said they buy the stuff they give to trick-or-treaters in mid-October.

The candy-makers, George said, see the summer blitz “as an additional source of revenue.”

The data suggests it’s working.

Halloween candy sales reached a record $6.4 billion in 2023, and are projected to increase by up to 5% this year, said the confectioners association’s Schildhaus.

Yes, says George. It works.

“The creep is going to continue,” he said, “and the only way it’s not going to continue is if consumers don’t respond positively.”