Gimme your money
Last Friday was so called “Black Friday”.
This is yet another abomination that was spawned in America, along with “Trick or Treat”, Jazz, burgers and a general mangling of the English language. The apparent fascination with all things American baffles me. Sadly, the concept is seen here as an ideal excuse to try to part us from our hard earned cash.
Anyhows, you notice I said LAST Friday? Yes, it is gone. It’s history. It is deceased and in the past. Yet they still waffle on about the amazing offers of shit with their “Black Friday” sales. Any fucking excuse to attempt to empty our wallets into their coffers. I have even seen advertisements talking about “Black Friday Week”! How can one day be a fucking week?
There are those though who do realise that Friday has gone so they waffle on about “Cyber Monday” instead. Again that is another bit of tat imported from across the Atlantic, and it also is history. Americans have so much to answer for.
There is another strange phenomenon I have noticed in current advertising. Last year we were inundated with ads promising us the Perfect Christmas. I never really understood what a perfect Christmas was supposed to be. Surely we must endeavour to make any day perfect or at the very least try to avoid a nightmare of a day? Anthows this year they have dropped the Perfect bit and almost with one voice they promise us a Magical Christmas. I’m not sure quite what this means either.
I suppose there are people who are thick enough to believe that if they don’t subscribe to a particular mobile phone service or purchase a different body soap that somehow Christmas will be ruined. If that’s the case then the future for mankind is indeed grim. Though I live in the hopes that it’s only the copywriter’s jaundiced view of society that is seriously off kilter.
I didn’t buy anything on Black Friday or indeed on Cyber Monday. Equally I am under no illusion that my Christmas will be totally ruined if I don’t buy a new suite of sitting room furniture.
I’ll buy something if I need it, not because someone tells me I need it.
I, and Mrs Discovered Joys, are very lucky this year that both our Android pads are wearing out/going faulty at the same time so we actually have something to buy each other for Christmas and can do so in the Black Friday/Cyber Monday period.
For Christmas we’ve tried asking for donations to charity in our names – not satisfying for other people. We’ve tried asking for only ‘small gifts’ – again not satisfying. We now publish lists of small gifts we would appreciate plus the alternative of ‘Amazon Vouchers’.
What we would *really* like though is an easy way of throwing stuff away without endless sorting and trips in the car to refuse dumps or charities.
“This is yet another abomination that was spawned in America, along with “Trick or Treat”, Jazz, burgers and a general mangling of the English language.
I blame the Canadians.*
*I have no reason for laying the blame on them, but as next-door neighbors go, they are handy scape goats.
(Also, they don’t have a lot of wild parties.)
I started a two year broadband contract with Vodafone in September last year. Since August this year they have been emailing me about once a week encouraging me to switch to a “better” two year contract at only £35/month. About a week ago they sent an email about their special Black Friday deal: switch to a new two year contract for only…
Wait for it…
£35/month.
What a bargain. 🙂
The myth is that up to the day after the US has its Thanksgiving harvest holiday, retail stores are operating in the “red”, the color accountants used to indicate negative balances. They have not sold enough goods to cover their expenses for the year. The sales on Friday move them past the break even point and the accountants now can use black in their legers to indicate a positive balance.
Retailers have extend the black Friday sales to several weeks before and several weeks afterwards. This has at least partially alleviated the physical violence that previously occurred as several hundred shoppers would attempt to grab one of twenty toaster ovens that are an amazing 25% off the list price instead of the normal 20% off of list price.
My theory is that canned cranberry sauce actually contains mind altering drugs that induce irrational rage
The real mystery is why the name has not been banned as being racist.
It’s all a bunch of mindless advertising shite!
I bought nothing on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday. I went to the store this morning and bought some groceries. That was my spending this week. Now I think I’ll fill a bowl.