Black Friday disgusts me. It doesn”t get more capitalistic than this day. Every year thousands of people line up early to take advantage of massive deals on popular items at all retail stores. Each year it seems that retailers begin to open earlier and earlier, however, this year it went far beyond that… As if not opening at 5:00 AM on the following Friday after Turkey day, now retailers are opening on Thanksgiving day in the early evening.
On the drive home from dinner I noticed lines of cars at exits to outlet malls and continual commercials on the radio. The idea of giving presents for Christmas already doesn’t set well with me, but what gets me the most is the shear force of the marketing behind the holidays. The amount marketing and advertising leading up to Black Friday, Christmas, Halloween, Valentines Day, and other holidays has gotten ridiculous.
The Pixar film Wall-E depicts the future of America by showing obese people in flying chairs mindlessly watching television.
The level of materialism in this country has gotten out of hand – and worse is the level of debt the average American family now endures. Most of the people rushing out the door to grab these “deals” can”t even pay all of their bills! They want to get presents for their loved ones and I completely understand why they are lining up on Black Friday to save any money they can – even if they can”t afford it. The problem is the buried idealism involved here and how Americans don”t even hesitate to spend money. I suppose we model from the very ones that lead the country, our Government, who is notorious for spending money they don”t have.
We need to become less materialistic and we need tighter regulations on the marketing allowed during the Holidays. I fear it will only become worse and we will all become mindless drones that live off our materials and major corporations. I suppose this is one of the major drawbacks of Capitalism, which has many benefits compared to other economic models other countries adopt, however, we must be mindful of what it can do to a mindless society.