Sunday, November 13, 2011

Blackening Our Day of Thanks?

As we all know, Thanksgiving (our epic celebration of food and America) is right around the corner, and with Thanksgiving comes the even more exciting day after: Black Friday. A day that is dedicated to the holiday shopping season and an infinite amount of bargains and deals at every store across America. I know that I personally have woken up at 4 am, still full from my dinner last night, running all over creation trying to hit my favorite shops. As fun as this sounds, there is a definite dark side to the day as well. There have been a handful of tragic deaths due to stampedes into stores and early bird shoppers getting trampled by people so driven to take advantage of the sales.

This afternoon I was google searching the hours that most businesses will be opening Black Friday, and to my astonishment, many businesses have chosen to open ON Thanksgiving Day. According to an article on ABC, for the first time ever Target, Macy's, Best Buy, and Kohls are opening their doors at midnight on Thursday. To read the full article, visit this link.

Obviously, this choice is very controversial to the people of the USA. On one hand, America is an economically and time motivated country. It makes sense that businesses will want to elongate their business hours for more profit. Despite this, some American people feel that this choice is taking away from the sacred holiday of Thanksgiving--a day dedicated to celebrating family and giving thanks for the things we hold dear.

So, what do you think? Is this choice to start Black Friday a day early a justified one? Is it not the more "American" choice? Or is this change one that will take away from our sanctified holiday?
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2 comments:

  1. Elizabeth JaneNovember 13, 2011 at 5:54 PM

    I think by choosing to start the black friday sales ON thanksgiving fits the American theme of being an impatient, go-go society. It only makes sense businesses want to get a jump on the sales. But I believe by starting the sales on Thanksgiving does take away from our sanctified holiday. Thanksgiving is about giving thanks, by surrounding ourselves with food and our loved ones.

    I think what makes Thanksgiving such a special holiday is that is an un-materialistc holiday. Having Black Friday begin early will only hurt this special quality. Because who really wants another holiday to worry about gifts and spending all of your money?

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  2. Matt R.November 19, 2011 at 9:43 AM

    I completely agree with Betsy. Aren't we supposed to be at home valuing what we have on Thanksgiving instead of going out and trying to get more? We as a nation, in my opinion, need to get back to basics and doing so would not involve having people scurrying out to stores on Thanksgiving.

    We live in an economically difficult time and some people are really feeling the brunt of it nowadays. I'm not sure if the best way to encourage people to still be positive is to intercede on this day of family and friends. On the other hand, it is good to continue with the
    Black Friday tradition to try and stimulate the economy with some more spending so long as nobody gets hurt in the process.

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