Controversy On Black Friday

Andrew Leonard's "Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization" argues that the Black Friday shopping spree has begun to get out of hand in the previous years. Leonard explains that consumerism is a great thing for America, but showing Americans that it is okay to go crazy when shopping for deals is not the way to approach the buying markets. He mentions a Target advertisement and states that, "The Crazy Target Lady is not a joke. Watch her cannibalize her gingerbread man, or strategize her reverse psychology shopping techniques... she is America. She might be a lunatic, but it's a culturally approved lunacy" (Leonard 166). The author emphasizes how Americans embrace the acts of the target lady as funny and amusing, but during Black Friday shopping, some shoppers will take the night to the extreme like the advertisement does. He does remind us that there is light at the end of the tunnel, by reporting how shoppers are seeing the problems with the night of crazy shopping. I agree with Leonard that there are problems with Black Friday ads, and that consumers are realizing Black Friday shopping is taking away from Thanksgiving.

Black Friday shopping is a controversial issue in the United States; while many believe the day after Thanksgiving is a part of holiday festivities, others view it as destructive. Throughout “Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization,” Andrew Leonard argues that the chaos of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in which crowds of Americans shop all night for extremely low prices, lessens the sophistication of Americans and the true meaning of the holidays. People become so consumed in the idea of endless sale prices that they forget to embrace what they already have, such as family, food, and shelter. He believes that Black Friday shopping has become out of control and describes the negative effects of excessive consumerism. he explains how most consumers act completely insane while Black Friday shopping and how society encourages this behavior by creating commercials and advertisements. Furthermore, Leonard states that it hurts the economy and damages one’s mental health. While Leonard is probably wrong when he claims that Black Friday shopping is completely troublesome to America’s well-being, he is right that consumerism overpowers the true significance of Thanksgiving.

REI as a whole is an outstanding outdoor-recreational retail company with very few issues to address. It is able to afford selling higher-priced goods due to its core values that sync with the majority of its customers. REI’s generosity and ethical treatment of its customers further enhances its appearance and reputation, despite that unsavory individuals can abuse the return policy. Quite possibly the only issue that REI would have to face is ensuring that when it expands operations, it mitigates the waste output in the

Imagine being in charge of a nation that has so little money families are splitting up in search of work and many are losing their jobs and becoming homeless. This was the situation President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was facing at the beginning of the 1930s. He and his administration had to come up with a plan to end the depression and rebuild the economy before the fragile country crumbled even more. While some of their responses to the American Great Depression were more effective than others, they all impacted the nation in a positive way and changed the role of the federal government for the better.

After the crash, many business failed, banks closed, and because of that, lots of workers were out of job. Homes and farms had been lost to foreclosure. In 1933, the government finally decided to do something, congress passed the Securities Act of 1933, which required companies that sold stocks and other securities to communicate important information to consumers and set up systems to prevent fraud. The law was strengthened in 1934 when congress created the Securities and Exchange commission (“Black Tuesday”). Herbert Hoover, the president of US during this event, thought the stock market would get better within 60 days (Stock). The crash also helped lead to the onset of the Great Depression by undermining confidence in the economy, but it

Grammar Result: Prior to The Great Depression, the United States was booming. Life was good for many. Companies were expanding nationwide, people were striking rich, and the stock markets were rising. Soon, the United States became the country where everyone wanted to be. Many immigrants were immigrating to the United States for opportunities.

Document two explains what happened when the banks went out of business. Black Tuesday was in October 29, 1929 and it was the day that the stock market crashed most deeply. This hinted to the start of the Great Depression. The stock market crashed because people did not have enough money to pay back the people who they borrowed money from. Due to this process the market started to fall. With prices falling, brokers asked investors to pay back what they owed. Investors then sold their stock to repay their loans. A panic quickly set in. Between October 24 and October 29, desperate people tried to unload millions of shares. As a result, stock prices dropped even further. Banks were also running out of

Many believed that Black tuesday began the Great Depression, on October 29, 1929 a group on panicked sellers traded nearly 16 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange causing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to fall. Others believe it was the stock market crash in 1929, or that Black tuesday was just the begining triggering the stock market to crash causing the Great Depression. As soon as president Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office he began searching for ways to better American life as quickly as possible. He proposed a series of programs through The New Deal, these programs created jobs for many unemployed men, while others offered aid, created the FDA so people know whats in the products they're purchasing, and banking acts to

Black Friday is the following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many workers have the day off as part of the Thanksgiving holiday, this increases the number of potential shoppers. Retailers often decorate for the Christmas and holiday season weeks beforehand. Many retailers open extremely early, with most of the retailers typically opening at 5 A.M. or even earlier. Retailers use Black Friday to kick off the holiday season to use much of their products to go from the red to the black.

Because they are going shopping. Here are some reasons why they don’t spend time with their families. They don’t spend time with their families because they want a good deal so they miss out on families time with their families.And people don’t often get to spend time with their families and they don’t take advantage of it instead they go shopping. Another way they could spend time with their families and have them employees spend time is to shop online and they could open on black friday and then they can ship it instead of them missing thanksgiving with their family.

In recent years, fewer people have been shopping outside (about 74 million in 2015 compared to 85 million in 2011), but the number is still large enough to pose a threat to the environment and retail worker happiness (TheBalance). Since there are people who will shop on Black Friday regardless, Buy Nothing Day may not be a permanent solution to overconsumption, but it could be the first step. The Mall of America, one of the largest shopping malls in the country, closed its doors on Thanksgiving to allow time for employees to spend time with their families (CNBC). If other retail leaders follow this example, Buy Nothing Day can become a reality. The more people that participate in raising awareness, the more others will realize that an obsession with consumerism is not beneficial for the

The Black Friday sales during Thanksgiving day will have many buyers seeking for that perfect gift. Some buyers will lose the opportunity if they arrive late. Since mine houseshoes are old, I am requesting for a new pair as a gift. However, on a regular basis, my family are focus on providing gifts for the less fortune than ourselves. We also feel that it is more rewarding in blessing others than receiving. In the midst of the large crowd, I have found that some purchase will be brought online versus going to the department

Worse off, the majority of Black Friday retailers have adopted the routine of locking entrances until the exact minute of opening time. Mingled with insufficient staffing and crowd organization, shoppers are primed to uncontrollably charge into stores as soon as the doors open. Once one person begins running, everyone follows. The concept of social proof states, “if somebody else is in a hurry, there must be some urgency, so I should hurry, too,” (McGraw, 2015). Once everyone is running toward the same destination, the situation turns bad quickly. The majority of mob calamities are associated with “crazes,” the occurrence of everyone rushing toward the same thing, that they all

It is understandable if there is bad weather outside but if it is a sunny day then that means it is time to go have fun outside and exercise. People don’t realize what is outside because they are trapped in their own virtual world and people need to stop relying on technology

People may get caught up in the excitement of the day, and that can help them to spend even more money. While waiting in line, customers at the front of the line seem to be excited and happy. However, at the end of the line, customers appear to be more frustrated and anxious. Some consumers plan their Black Friday shopping trips weeks in advance. There are many websites available for people to view Black Friday advertisements online, before they are supposed to be released to the public. Walmart has tried year after year for the advertisements not to be leaked, but they usually end up on these websites before they are supposed to (4 Years Strong: Walmart Sends Another Cease & Desist, 2011). Stores may not want to have their advertisements released early for a couple of reasons. First, consumers having the ability to research products and having too much time to explore all of their options may mean that consumers will not make as many spontaneous purchases on Black Friday. They also do not want to have their competition see their deals, and then have them beat their prices. Having the advertisements earlier though means consumers are able to plan what stores they want to go to, which may lead to less chaos on the actual day. People are motivated by saving money on Black Friday. Some consumers may even see it as a competition. For some, because there is only a limited selection available for many of the items that are