American culture in Austria

Cultures are always changing and intermingling with each other and the Austrian culture is no exception. Of course, migration is a big factor, but another element that people sometimes forget are movies and advertisements.

The best example for this is perhaps Santa Claus. Coca Cola invented him as he is today - an overweight old man, with a white beard and a red suit, living on North Pole with his wife and a lot of elves. The film industry then made movies about him that, along with the ad, are being shown in Austria and thus, a lot of younger children now believe in Santa Claus, rather than the Christkind.

Since we are on the topic of holidays, Halloween is another thing that we've incorporated in our culture. For Austrians, this date traditionally only is a normal day, but with a lot of movies being made about the topic of Halloween, a lot of people have started to celebrate it in Austria as well. In bigger cities it is not that rare to see trick-or-treaters, and Halloween decorations along Halloween themed candy can be bought in basically every grocery store. For young adults, Halloween parties are now offering another opportunity to party and let loose. 

Another part of American culture that has found its way to Austria is the food. While I don't really consider McDonalds a classic American restaurant, I can't deny that Burgers and french fries are quite American. The sheer number of McDonalds per town/city in Austria seems to actually outnumber the amount per town (with relatively the same size of course) in America, which fascinates me a lot. But it's not just McDonalds that offers "the classic American food", on the contrary, there are a lot of restaurants that only serve different Burger variations in Austria nowadays.
Of course, I'm not going to forget about the sweet concoctions that have made their way across the pond. Cupcakes, Cookies and Brownies are becoming more and more popular, with a lot of shops opening that just offer these sweet temptations.

A big element that we don't even notice as a part of American culture is music. But one only has to listen to OE3 to understand that American music, which for me is part of a culture, is dominating the radio stations. Teenagers in Austria don't listen to traditional Austrian music, but rather to the likes of Lady Gaga, Beyoncé and Jay-Z.

American sports are now also part of the everyday culture. Basketball, which arguably could be Canadian as well since the inventor is a Canadian American, is a fixed feature in our sports world and even American Football has seen a steady increase of players in Austria.