If you want to write a style blog, it’s basically a prerequisite that you like to shop. But I’m planning to give it a rest, at least for the next couple of days.
I’m heartened by articles like this one from Huffington Post by Jillian Berman about how Costco, Nordstrom, and other businesses are refusing to open on Thanksgiving. Berman’s piece includes a line from Roger Beahm, a marketing prof at Wake Forest: “There’s a PR benefit to holding out, just as there’s a PR benefit to opening early.” There are self-serving reasons that a business might stay closed on Thanksgiving, but I also like to believe the talk about valuing workers and their time off. I don’t plan to shop on Thanksgiving Day (unless I botch the sweet potato casserole I’m supposed to bring to dinner. Then I might need some supermarket triage).
I’ll also skip out on shopping on Friday. AdBusters’s Buy Nothing Day coincides with Black Friday (at least in North America).
Do I want to destroy our economy? No. Do I hate prosperity and freedom and America and eagles? No. Do I, like many others, want corporations to treat their workers in a humane way? Yes. Does “humane” include such things as health benefits, living wages, and guaranteed time off on holidays to spend with families? Yes, that sounds right.
For me, the benefits of abstaining from shopping on Black Friday are severalfold. I don’t have to be cranky in crowds (and in this way, my “pledge” is less noble. It would be like me giving up lobster for a day, when I’m not all that crazy about it in the first place.) I can take a closer look at my own shopping habits and waywardness. I can give thanks that my immediate family has simplified the shopping even more with our secret Santa gift exchange. I can contribute to charity gifts that celebrate this season but without the clutter or the contribution to corporate greed.
Will my staying out of stores on Friday really make a difference? Will it stem the tide of shoppers who rush the sales? Probably not. But it’s a small step, and meaningful to me.
OK, I’m going to stop writing, and swing by a thrift store on my way home. I have to get my fix before Buy Nothing Day.
Happy Thanksgiving, and if you do brave Black Friday deals, may the odds be ever in your favor.
Photos from adbusters.org