With the moaning of lack luster retail spending reports coming in daily, this image by Brian Ulrich seemed appropriate for this years Thanksgiving holiday post.
When I was little, no one was open on Christmas. Nobody. I recall spending most of the day in my jammies and my parents greeting obscure family members as they meandered in during the afternoon hours. Now, practically every store and movie theater will be open and ready for us once we tire of our Wii's and new slippers. I have already seen 2 good-sized articles critiquing the ever earlier appearances of Christmas decor throughout the the last 20 years. Hallmark actually had displays up before Halloween, a new benchmark. Thanksgiving, with it's false history of buckle clad pilgrims sharing their bounty with the natives, has become a gateway for the "big one". Since the largest expenditure most folks have for Thanksgiving is food (and possibly pay-per-view), retailers treat this time as a primer to help you get into that gift buying feeling.
I am interested in the connections between ourselves and our things and how marketers attempt to reinforce that relationship. I look forward to this holiday period each year and each year I am amazed by the tenacity of it all. I am not naive. I understand the impulse of buyers, the pull of "tradition", the need to please and how it can be manipulated. But it really does amaze me, the amount of complete crap that is offered up like so much must-have treasure.
I'm going to enjoy this Thursday by sleeping in a bit, eating a little brined turkey and exploring the tower of ads like an anthropologist. I hope you have a good day too.
