Black Friday Deals!....Wait, what happened to Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is right around the corner, but my email account is not filling up with emails about thanks and turkey sales. No, my email is filled with Black Friday deals. It seems as though the second October hint, Halloween was dismissed and retailers focused on what is one of their biggest days for sales throughout the year. Immediately “early Black Friday deals” and smiling family who had saved money were clogging up my email and I became frustrated with the fact that everyone wanted to skip Thanksgiving and go straight to the buying gifts holidays. But, you know what? In early October, I began looking at those early sales and planning out what I could buy everyone for Christmas. “Consumerism is not just a form of pleasure and fun, but is an all-important instrument of social control and a means by which individuals are integrated into society” (Kellner, 2013, p. 27). They got me. Douglas Kellner (2013) writes, “they sell us consumerism as a way of life and promote the belief that happiness is to be found through consumption” (p. 29). As I look at the Black Friday emails I have received and see the smiles on those “deal savers,” I realize that I want to save money too. I realize that I want that smile on my face. That is why I began to look at Christmas gifts before Christmas music even hit the radio.  

I was not alone in my frustration of the media and businesses completely omitting Halloween and Thanksgiving. Each day, there was a new post on my Facebook from someone who was frustrated with how “the media was pushing the holidays they want.” I was surprised by how many people were upset about the Black Friday and Christmas emails and advertisements that were consuming the air waves. Aitken, Gray, and Lawson (2008) write, “consumers actively process those advertisements that coincide with particular purchase needs, and respond to brand, product or service information according to the cognitive or affective appeals of the advertisement” (p. 279). So, what does this have to do with everyone’s anger towards these early deals? Well, we are talking about them. Whether you physically go to a store and cash in on these deals, browse a stores website looking for that perfect gift, or post a status on Facebook about Wal-Mart already talking about Black Friday, you are talking about that business which is what the companies want.

            Aitken, Gray, and Lawson (2008) outline a few different models advertisers use in order to get their message across to consumers. One model touched on is called the “information-processing model which “assumes that if the message is clear and it is delivered effectively it will be interpreted appropriately” (p. 280). “The act of ‘reading’ and responding to an advertisement is not simply a process of decoding the clues to discover the preferred meaning of the message but is an active engagement with both the formal and the informal elements of the advertisement and with the genre of advertising to produce a negotiated understanding” (Aitken, Gray, & Lawson, 2008, p. 281).  Advertiser cannot necessarily predict how their messages will be decoded and received by consumers. In the end, however, having people talk about their products and advertisements might draw more foot traffic to their business.

            Will we ever move away from the consumer stigma we have had placed upon us? It only takes one company to get the ball rolling, and this year that one company is REI. REI has decided that its doors will be closed on Black Friday this year and is attempting to start a new movement called “Opt Outside” where they are encouraging customers to do more activities outside on Black Friday instead of being in the mall all day. However, if a person wants to spend the day hiking instead of shopping or perhaps camping that would mean that person would need some outdoor gear. Ironically enough, REI sells outdoor recreation equipment. So, is this “Opt Outside” campaign just another way for REI to advertise their own products and make a profit before Black Friday? I guess that is for each consumer to decide.

Aitken, R., Gray, B., & Lawson, R. (2008). Advertising effectiveness from a consumer perspective. International Journal Of Advertising, 27(2), 279-297. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.eastern.edu:3277/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=dae98864-23df-4ffc-960a-b5f006cfa0ee%40sessionmgr4003&vid=0&hid=4113

Pomerance, M. & Sakeris, J. (Eds.) (2013). Popping culture (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Peasron