After a long day of giving thanks for all the bountiful things we are blessed with, families across the nation load up in their cars and drive out to the stores to stand in line and fight people over new sales. This tradition seems to get worse and worse every year.
I remember when I was 14 years old, thought I ran the world, and I insisted on going shopping with my mom that year. We went to bed on thanksgiving night and we woke up and went to the stores when they opened at 5:00 Friday morning. That was early for us! This year stores are opening as early as 8:00 Thursday night, which is now creating this craze of "Grey Thursday" - the pre-sale of the sales.
I think the media has made this shopping madness worse and worse. Usually, we would get the Thursday Thanksgiving paper and lay out what we were going to shop for the next day. Now, the news stations make "Black Friday" and "Grey Thursday" major headlining stories. Advertisers live for Black Friday commercials. There are now apps you can download that will help you find the best shopping spots with the least "traffic" etc.
The media constantly mentioning the ridiculous deals creates a hype in the community. The hype is what makes advertisers want to create more ads. They hype is what makes companies want to create more and more deals and open earlier and earlier.
The media frames how society acts and moves. If the media didn't talk about or advertise these amazing deals every Thanksgiving holiday, there would be less of a hype and more time spent with families and loved ones. I'm all for a good deal, but I think the shopping madness has gotten out of control. Thanksgiving is a holiday about giving thanks, being grateful for what we have, and spending time with loved ones. The media has turned it into a ridiculous consumer holiday.
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