It may be that it is overused or that it has just been promoted for so long, whatever the reason the millennium message isn’t getting through to shoppers. Or it’s getting through loud and clear and consumers are tiring of the talk.

Many heavily promoted holiday travel packages have failed to sell-out. The millennium deals have flopped and many even dropped for lack of interest. It could be Y2K that’s bugging everyone, and people want to stay home, or it could be that travelers aren’t falling for the sky-high price increases. With the exception of Las Vegas and New York, most hotels are not even reaching expectations this New Year’s Eve.

Almost 2,000 requests for trademarks of goods and services bearing the word "millennium" have come through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Companies hoping to cash in on the millennium craze are running out of time.

You can already find Millennium Monopoly, Cabbage Patch Millennium babies and Millennios cereal. You can buy millennium champagne flutes from Waterford crystal for $2,000 or settle for a millennium Anheuser-Busch bottle of beer and four mugs for $40. Of the two, the beer mugs have been the biggest seller.

A couple of millennium books are seeing an interest from readers. A millennium edition of the Guinness book of Records is going fast in bookstores. A book titled "My Millennium Memoir" a do-it-yourself journal to write about the occasion, is also a hot seller this year.

One of the biggest seller of all in this millennium craze, millennium condoms by Durex. They’ve seen a dramatic increase in sales for the New Year.

DATE: 12/10/99

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