The Black Friday Takeover Essay

Because Parker is passionate in her articles, she derives a lot of credibility from it. In “Black Friday has Lost its Bang. Hallelujah,” Parker is passionate about the topic of people being less materialistic. It is clear that she is passionate about the topic of people choosing to be thankful and spending time with family than going Black Friday shopping through, because she seems relieved that the tradition is

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.

Quindlen starts her essay by stating that at a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, New York, a worker was trampled to death by a horde of excited shoppers during Black Friday; the day after Thanksgiving when stores hold massive sales for the holiday season (Par. 2). She then goes on to talk about credit card debt and gives various examples of people buying different versions of items they

Thanksgiving traditions don't end on Thanksgiving Day. In the 1950s, the day after Thanksgiving was called Black Friday by factory managers because so many workers called in sick and the Philadelphia Police Department took to calling the day Black Friday to describe the traffic jams, crowds and shoplifters during the start of the holiday shopping season. Black Friday signals the start of the holiday shopping season, but it may be a tradition that's continuing to evolve as stores vie to be the earliest to open Thanksgiving Day.

In the essay “Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization,” the author, Andrew Leonard, makes the argument that, “The out-of-control marketing and consumer insanity” (135) has taken over Thanksgiving and the days following it. Sadly, as consumers, we have forgotten what Thanksgiving is really all about. Marketing businesses have gone overboard brainwashing consumers with advertisements pumping them up to shop on Black Friday and the days that follow. Moreover, marketing businesses have caused the actions we see and hear about on Black Friday such as people being trampled, as consumers rush into stores to shop the sales, and are proof of this insanity. I strongly agree with Leonard’s arguments from “Black Friday:

In conclusion Black Friday should not be open on Thanksgiving because Thanksgiving is supposed to be spent with family and friends and to be thankful for everything that you have and it should not be spent getting trampled and hurt trying to get a cheap t.v. Thank You For Reading My

Greed is among us and within Americans all the time, but one night a year it comes out in the worst way possible… Black Friday shopping. Black Friday happens every year the day after Thanksgiving, where stores put big sales on their products and open their doors early in the morning waiting for the chaos to commence. During the time of the sales people become greedy and crazy and are willing to do almost anything just to try and save a couple of dollars. Every year on the news people hear about all of the injuries and even deaths that take place during Black Friday. During this time greed gets the best of a lot of people, and you can see images of people diving on top of each other like they are objects just to get a good deal. These people have just come from Thanksgiving where they talk about how they are thankful for everything that they have, but then a couple of hours later they become crazy trying to get more stuff. In the TV episode Black Friday from the TV show Superstore they are able to portray what happens during the early mornings of Black Friday. Within the episode they are really able to portray how greed gets the best of us and how crazy people can really become just trying to get good deals on this terrible night.

As Black Friday and the Christmas season rolls around, Americans all over the country, Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping included, flock to supermalls and giant shopping complexes. Yet unlike all the Americans, Reverend Billy Talon and his Church of Stop Shopping infiltrate these popular stores in an effort to resist the commercialized Christmas and bridge the gap between 1st world consumerism and 3rd world production. This anti-consumption activist group implores Americans to refocus their Christmases around religious and familial traditions rather than the consumptive practices which are backed by retailers and media alike. Morgan Spurlock follows Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping around America as they crusade against

“It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year”, they say. The Friday after Thanksgiving is the beginning of the shopping season; one of the busiest seasons of the year. It’s one thing having to be in crowded mall areas but it is another to be jumping on one another fighting over special gifts. There's a much simpler way; instead of going out, dealing with rough crowds, and having to wait long periods of time you could shop at the comfort of your home, online.

In an article by Brian LisiHe mentions an incident that happened in Houston during Black Friday, “At a Houston-area Walmart in 2014, four people ended up piling on top of a box to lay their claim to a $218 50-inch flatscreen TV.” As Dash O’Hanibough said “Any intelligent citizens will acknowledge that their scenarios are extreme, especially here in the United States.” It seems O’Hanibough isnt aware of Black Friday, even though its ones of the biggest events of the

REI, an American retail corporation that sells sporting goods and outdoor recreation gear, has shocked the world of retail and made the decision to close all of its stores on Black Friday this year and pay its multitude of employees to “head outside”, according to REI’s President and CEO, Jerry Stritzke. The company is describing this decision as “a stand against the commercial madness that has characterized the day after Thanksgiving for at least a decade and a half”. While this decision comes with high risk, due to the fact that all REI stores will be closed for what most would say is the busiest shopping day of the year, it is clear that REI is more concerned with the message it is sending to consumers and its employees.

James tells us this happens first and foremost because we are sinners and our desires entice us which then leads to sin (James 1:15). This explains why people act ridiculously. I doubt anyone reading this ever acts crazy like those on Black Friday, right (Kidding!)? Remember, Jesus died for your sins. You are forgiven. Because of the work of Jesus, you are not condemned (Romans 8:1)! Even if you do not rise up early on Black Friday, please pray for those who participated in Black Friday and for those whose desires got the best of them during this time.

This year most stores decided they would open on Thanksgiving. For most, Black Friday makes or breaks annual earnings (Zillman). Do these high-end retailers know that they are actually taking employees away from their families? The answer is yes, but do they care?

At 4:30 p.m. on December 6, 2010, Meredith Collins, VP of Marketing for Reed Supermarkets, walked down the sidewalk of the 10-store strip mall that housed Reed’s Westgate Plaza branch in Columbus, Ohio. Collins didn’t shop; instead she took mental notes about store traffic, first at the Reed store and then at an indirect but increasingly worrisome kind of competitor—a dollar store. The Reed was predictably well lit and inviting, and Collins could see three registers open and two or three customers in line at each. “Not too bad” she thought, “but not what I would hope for at this time of day, this close to the holidays.” She’d felt the same way at two other Reeds