Black Friday...Gray Thursday

from HuffPost:




Benjamin R. Barber
Black Friday...Gray Thursday
Posted November 26, 2007 | 03:18 PM (EST)



On this blue Monday following Black Friday, can anyone remember Thursday? Thanksgiving, once America's holiday of gratitude and family solidarity, has become the staging area for Christmas shopping. It is no longer just the day after Thanksgiving -- Black Friday (as in "in the black, or profitable") -- that is devoted to consumerism, but Thanksgiving Day itself, on which more and more stores are now staying open for pre-Black Friday sales. Call it gray Thursday.

America's retail industry, now indistinguishable from its marketing industry, sees in every blank space a billboard, in every suburban meadow, a mall, in every screen -- big or small -- a banner ad. And in every 'non-working' holiday, a time for more shopping. The Thanksgiving weekend comprises four non-working days: that's ninety-six hours available for non-stop shopping. Ditto for Halloween, Ramadan, Christmas, you name it -- the "holy days" are now all shopoholy days. And whose fault is that?

I had a half dozen calls from radio and TV stations over this long shopping weekend asking me to talk about why consumers are so hungry to shop, why housewives were camping out at 3 AM Friday morning to make the 4 AM opening of mega-stores like Target. The assumption of the reporters who called was that Black Friday was a demand side phenomenon -- moms deciding there wasn't enough time in the day for all the shopping they wanted to do, dads insisting that stores stay open on Thanksgiving and open again midnight on Black Friday 'cause they just couldn't get enough of those bargains, kids leaping from bed at midnight as if they'd spotted Peter Pan in the window and shouting "let's go shopping!"

See, the point seems to be, the retail industry is just saying -- after all, this is its mantra -- we're just giving people what they want.

....(snip)....

It's time we understand that Black Friday is not something we do; it something being done to us. And comprehend that, left to the marketplace, Black Friday will eat Thursday as well and annihilate what is left of Thanksgiving and the American spirit it represents. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/benjamin-r-barber/black-fridaygray-thurs_b_74166.html