Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Holidays were once holidays. They were celebrated as great occasions to remember something of value and significance on some scale and stop to think about life. They were great opportunities for commercial activities also. Italy was built on the expenditure of the believers who departed to fight in the crusades. The wealth was astronomical and much art was sponsored both because those on the other side (the Muslims) had great art to show (and crusader side has to have it) and losses of the believers was huge compared to the gains of the merchants. End of the year holiday season has always been blessed times in US until religion went out of fashion after the Cold War. Religion was great when the enemy fought those believing in any religion but once that war was ended, those with religion were the problem. Holidays provide much revenue for the economy and are not to be taken lightly. Christian holidays are great on many levels and will be much better for the economy if remain holidays but not religious events.
Thanksgiving provides great starting point to line up everyone for shopping season that ought to last until Christmas and New Years. Thanksgiving is still tolerated as a day for the family but watchful business establishment is edgy for the lack of business on the day after Thanksgiving. The infamous Black Friday has been the due day for the American family to do their part in a great American tradition. Black Friday has been great for many years until the economy tanked last year and even before then another glorious day was invented on the Monday after the Thanksgiving and aptly named Cyber Monday. Thanksgiving Day itself has become a candidate for a major shopping day. Since revenues on Black Friday and its Internet era sister day of Cyber Monday have not been impressive and record breaking the business bosses have decided to punish the American family. Thanksgiving day is slowly becoming another major shopping day and the evening of the day is reserved for the American family. A few hours of family time ought to do the job and the rest of the day should go to important stuff such as shopping.
That would have happened one way or another. People always did some shopping on Thanksgiving day and is of no surprise because of the urge to avoid the Black Friday rushes. Thanksgiving day will become a 100% shopping day in a few years, at the latest, and nobody will complain. The public will have to be trained to think of Thanksgiving day as such and it is done. The big question is since religion and even national life is being drained from all holidays, how long will it be before all relevant days are announced major shopping days?
If Thanksgiving Day becomes a bona fide shopping day and not a family day, what of the day before Thanksgiving? The day after and the Monday after are already established as national mandatory shopping days. How long before the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving are also part of the start of the shopping season mandating American family to have enough money or borrow to be able to keep up with the rest and shop five days nonstop? The public think as a crowd (or mob) does and will conform to whatever is the dominant rule. Soon they will all UNDERSTAND that having five or six shopping days around Thanksgiving is great and a blessing. Who cares about Turkey and family dinner when one can have serious fun five days in a row and spend and spend. That can cost thousands or tens of thousands for an average family but if everyone else is doing it and TV tells them to do it, the American family has to join in.
And what of Christmas and New Year’s? What of these religious holidays that bring so much money? They already have to share the dates with Hannukah. Are there other contenders for the occasion? They probably are but the business world does not care as much as they care for non-religious holidays. If religion is taken out of the picture, the holiday occasion can be designed to fit the best possible schedules and arrangements for our shopping needs. And will there be additional shopping days? Retailers count every three months of the year as a fiscal quarter and the week between Christmas and New Year’s is big enough in shopping numbers to be considered a separate quarter by many retailers. That is how much they bring in. How long before that period becomes an official mandatory shopping week also? It is unofficially doing the job and if it becomes official (as announced by TV commercials) then everyone has to spend thousands and tens of thousands in that period to keep up with all the rest of American families who are having all the fun. How long before that? I think with some creativity and effort, all the religious stuff can be taken out and a new holiday system can be created that caters to ALL needs of our business world masters. They have not had much trouble in the past and why should they now?
*This post belongs to this week’s edition of Wine by Cush Magazine blog and published early in World of Cush also.
No comments:
Post a Comment