Aaron Burns | Graphics Co-Editor
As someone who wants to work for an advertising agency after college, it’s weird to say that most advertisements annoy me. This is especially true about Black Friday ads. How is it even possible to enjoy a Thanksgiving Day parade or the big game if the commercials are constantly talking about the sales coming up? As far as I’m concerned, as long as it is Nov. 28, 2013, it is still Thanksgiving.
The whole concept of Black Friday is gone, in my humble opinion. If any store thinks they can start sales before midnight on Friday, they are intervening with Thanksgiving festivities. I’m honestly appalled that Wal-Mart started their sales at 6:00 p.m. As I was traveling and waiting for dinner to start at my aunt’s house, there were people lining up for televisions and who knows what else.
Not only is it sickening to me that consumerism is overtaking the family time of the holidays, the stores also need employees to work this madness. I would hate to leave my family dinner to go work in a mad rush of people. I understand that a lot of places do offer time-and-a-half pay or whatever to entice their employees into working, but really? I don’t think that looks appealing at all over spending quality time with the family.
Now, I can’t lie, I did check out the Black Friday deals, but only after midnight. My sister had gone to bed and my mom was shopping online with hopes of heading to bed soon. I went to Wal-Mart to see what the damage was on inventory. I walked out of there with three $1.98 movies and a $50 external hard drive for my computer. No television, no sound system, no computer. I went in with a goal and came out with what I expected.
The surprising part about my late night venture is that there was practically no one else in the store shopping. The aisles were full of employees preparing for the next rush at 8:00 a.m the next morning. Wal-Mart didn’t even do a midnight sale; they just stuck to 6:00 p.m, 8:00 p.m, and 8:00 a.m. That totally takes away from the concept of Black Friday.
I’m scared for the future of Thanksgiving. If consumers are focused on material items over family get-togethers, what will happen ten years down the road? Will sales be starting at midnight on Thanksgiving Day? Will there be a 6:00 p.m sale at Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving Eve? Our consumer culture is taking a turn for the worse. It might be the way that I was raised that I value family time, but you probably will never see me going into a store before midnight on good ol’ Black Friday.
Graphic by Aaron Burns
