The Tradition Of Black Friday Shopping Essay

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.

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.

As Black Friday has progressed along with retailors marketing their products and their sales, it has become a national day of shopping to get the best deals. Americans mainly go shopping on this day to get huge deals for Christmas presents. Stores have even taken this great opportunity to open their establishments for 24 hours. Just last year, consumers spent a whopping $57,400,000,000 with each consumer individually spending $410 on average. The #1 retailor customers purchased from and camped out at was Best Buy. All of the statistics are based on 2013 and this year was projected to be an 11% increase.

When you think of your first job, a lot of us think of our teenage years when we needed money to go out with friends and keep with the latest trends. During this time, we took any job we could get, from fast food

How far do sources 11 & 12 challenge the view presented in source 10 about the conduct of the police on Black Friday?

In the essay “Consumerism Minus Civilization,” the catalyst being described, is the effect of how Black Friday affects the general populous. The author goes on to describe the certain instances of how the holiday sale is actually harming humanity and the consumer market. The ads that are present are not something to be admired or amused by, but instead something to be feared because the affect of the season ruins humanity. The author then references major retail stores such as, “Target” and “Walmart” as some of the worst to breed this competition of Black Friday. With these ideals the author closes by explaining how everyone should take a break go shopping, and go a little later instead of immediately disbanding their homes to then flood

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

September 11, 2001. I was busy finishing my “Rapport de Stage” in the Mackworth College Library, Derby, England, when a lady came to spread the bad news. Four commercial jetliners were hijacked and diverted from their paths to be used as guided missiles. Two of the jetliners ended up by crashing into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, New York City, around 9:00 a.m. local time. Half an hour later, the third jetliner crashed into the Pentagon, whereas the forth one, supposedly on its way to Washington D.C., crashed somewhere in Pennsylvania. However, the implications of that Black Tuesday were far more complicated than the mere reported facts.

Christmas time. Christmas time brings wonder and hope to children. The main component to this wonder and hope is for a mythical being called Santa Claus. This Santa Claus comes in the night and brings “good little children” toys. In reality the parents do. With this combination and the thought we have to give this, this, and this person something different, sentimental, and special gifts the sales were definitely a game changer to people. We could get gifts way cheaper and early. Once stores relied “hey we can take advantage of this movement” the sales have taken over our lives made the even inhuman. In the article “Black Friday: Consumerism minus Civilization he mentions this exact theory. The holiday has become a lot earlier, the shopping

long lines on Black Friday. I for one would like to thank Walmart for looking out for

Rural>City>Cyberspace by Nicholas Carr and Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization are two essays written to show how modern times are changing our behavior. They both claim that we are losing some of our humanity. Although both passages seem to have a similar main idea they have many differences. Rural>City>Cyberspace and Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization have different purposes, patterns, and are directed towards different audiences. Rural>City>Cyberspace’s purpose was to show its readers the effects technology is having on our brains.

I've only ever gotten up early to go "Black Friday Shopping" once in all of

Black Friday has become a tradition for many families in America. For me, I do not quite understand the idea of spending time with a whole bunch of my thanksgiving with a whole bunch of crazy and price driven consumers at a Wal-Mart, target, etc. In this Inhabitat article, it talks about how Recreational Equipment Incorporated (REI) will close their doors for the second year in a row on Black Friday. REI is encouraging their customers and noncustomers to spend their Black Friday outside with family and friends. REI is running a campaign with the social media hash tag (#) #OptOutisde and Will You Go Out With Me?

Starbucks positions itself as a place college students can hang out, study, write term papers and meet people. A Starbucks appeal to this consumer directly through introducing technology as soon as it comes available, focusing on social networking and actively cultivating a “cool” image. The young adult audience grows 4.6 percent each year (O’ Farrell).” However, the majority of the advertising is catered to Adults around the ages of 25 to 40. Adults seem to prefer a pick me up first thing in the morning on their way to work. Most Starbucks today have a drive thru to make it faster to grab and go.

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