We are now into the shopping season. Thanksgiving marks the beginning of it. I’ve been keeping my ears open when I listen to the radio to see if there are any mentions of Thanksgiving as the holiday itself, or products and services for the holiday, I didn’t hear any. When I’m on the street, I looked for clues of Thanksgiving, not including workers setting up for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York City or delis advertising cooked turkeys. There were any hardly Thanksgiving decoration, but Christmas decoration is all over the place. Every advertisement points to Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and shopping for the holidays. Christmas equals shopping now.
I also felt that the boundary for “need” and “want” have been obscured. Someone I know bought an iPhone6 Plus for a lot of money. She said that it was “needed.” I can’t imagine why it’s a need, I’ve never seen her do anything spectacular on the phone. All I’ve seen her do has been making phone calls, texting, play Candy Crush, normal smart phone stuff that other smart phones can do as well. I recently got a smart phone myself, a Motorola Droid Maxx, because I’m part of a family plan that was activated since way back, it cost me 99 cents to get it. There was a want, I want to be able to text, read e-mails, browse the web, and other normal stuff comfortably. I will probably never use the full potential of the phone. It’s not like I’m a spy in one of those awesome spy movies where I’ll save the world by stopping terrorists from launching nuclear strikes against American cities off of it.
That’s the power of marketing, to get consumers to need things. All the deals, the percentages taken off of the original price, the signs, sometimes with lights, along with holiday decorations, all the mind manipulations and sensory attractions, are all very overwhelming. It gets people to trade in their money for material stuff. As I’m typing this, I am considering making a purchase for dress shirts. There was a time when I needed these shirts, when I started a job that requires me to wear them. For one year, I just cycled through four shirts a week, we get “dress-down” Fridays. That became a problem when an extra day popped up that required another day of me in a shirt. If it’s an event which I needed to wear a suit, that wasnt’ not so bad, I’ll just find the less wrinkly shirt and wear it again, just had to keep the jacket on throughout the event. Sometimes it got hot. Other times, well, I’ll just show off the wrinkles. Eventually, I bought four more shirts, simply for the sake of the per shirt discount. Right now, it’s a want, I already have more shirts than the calendar week. Maybe a semi-want, since some of the older shirts are getting worn out, I wear those when I don’t think I’ll see anybody else, other than co-workers. Or did I just made an excuse for myself?
In our consumption society, we often buy a lot of things that we don’t need. During the holiday season, we buy things to give, which are sometimes what people don’t need, in some cases, don’t even want. I’m sure a lot of people have gotten a holiday gift or birthday present that’s not wanted. How about those wedding gifts for guests? Some of them are nicely personalized, so something that can be kept as memories. Others are a small pouch of M&Ms, so they’re easy to get rid off, just hand it off to the next kid running by. Then there are those that I have no idea what to do with. What am I supposed to do with a 3D heart shaped plastic case that changes color when I turn it own that have the bride’s and groom’s name on it?
What do we do with most things we don’t want? Either we put them away in some forgotten corner of our home and that’s where they’ll stay. Or we send them away and make them not our business. We simply throw them out. How many of us kept all of our gifts anyway? There are probably some of my gifts in landfills that I don’t even remember ever receiving.
All I want to say is: Let’s practice being more responsible this season. For gifts, give items that are meaningful. Maybe it’s okay to just give a gift card, let the recipient make its own purchase. Whenever possible, decline the shopping bag, whether paper or plastic. If needed, try to consolidate the items from different stores into one back. I’m sure nobody wants to walk around with their arms wrapped around their newly bought items, bags will be used, that’s when consolidation helps. Instead of having a bag for shirts from one store and another bag for a pack of socks from a different store, put the pack of socks into the bag of shirts, use one bag. Be sure to sort what’s recyclable or not prior to disposal. Don’t ever litter.
A little late, but a quick and entertaining video on the history on Black Friday. Not sure how accurate all the facts are, but it’s funny. A little note, there’s some expletive language.
tklliang 