Friday, November 29, 2013

Black Friday madness (video)

Crazed American shoppers pushed to a frenzy of greed by US propaganda (CBC.ca)
Violent and chaotic scenes at a Walmart store after reduced price flat-screen televisions (with enhanced monitoring devices built in to facilitate homeland spying even when off and unplugged by the NSA and other agencies) go on sale (DailyMail.co.uk).
 
The sky gods must not want us to shop in Los Angeles because it's raining. Ominous clouds, egged on by lots of chemtrails (aerosol sky-seeding with toxic heavy metal particulates), were hanging around all week. It's supposed to be Buy Nothing Friday or Shop Small Business Saturday. But as Grey Thursday turned into Black Friday greed overwhelmed us -- craving for senseless bargains and "door busters," which means a few come leader items that will have run out by the time we arrive. If anyone is planning on getting them, bring gloves, regulation boxing gloves or jousting rods and protective vests, because "bargain shopping" means WAR. Think not? According to the British Daily Mail:
  • The rush for Black Friday bargains has resulted in outbreaks of violence as shoppers clash over reduced prices.
  • Police in Virginia are reporting a stabbing incident after two men got into a fight in the parking lot over a space.
  • In Las Vegas, an alleged thief shot a shopper in the leg and stole his TV.
  • Cops in Chicago shoot a man as he scuffles trying to escape another cop.
  • Shoppers cutting in line sparked a Black Friday Brawl at another Walmart.
  • Several clips have already appeared on YouTube of the carnage at various Walmarts, [the biggest and most notorious shopping outlet and employee abuser].
  • Some retailers opened their doors as early as 6:00 am on Thanksgiving Day...
The Black Friday Myth
Outta my way, I'm shopping! (The Simpsons)
We c­an always expect to deal with jam-packed stores, long lines, and frenzied shoppers in search of "Black Friday" deals. And as far as the number of bodies that walk in and out of stores, Black Friday hauls them in. That heavy Black Friday foot traffic translates to high dollar profits, accounting for 4.5 to 5 percent of all holiday sales [source: Credeur and Riddell]. In 2007, retail sales on Black Friday and Saturday netted $16.4 billion [ShopperTrak]. That's an undeniably large number. But it isn't the largest of the season. In fact, Black Friday isn't the busiest shopping day of the year normally, despite what popular opinion holds [National Retail Federation]. Instead, the holiday shopping procrastinators win out: The highest sales day of the year usually strikes the Saturday before Christmas [International Council of Shopping Centers]. How is that possible if shoppers line up in front of stores at the crack of dawn on Black Friday? More

Cyber Monday?
I could care less, mom! (HSW)
The latest buzzword for holiday shopping is "Cyber" Monday. In 2005, online retailers created this reference for the Monday after Thanksgiving. The Web merchants figured that this day would see a substantial sales bump since a majority of online shoppers make their purchases at work. Following an intense marketing effort to get Cyber Monday into the mainstream lexicon (and thereby drive customers online), sales figures revealed that the day generally doesn't rank in the Top 10 busiest online shopping days. [Oops! That's propaganda for ya.]

No comments: