For the final paper I chose option two. I am attempting to display the differences between the mass medias advertising for Black Friday in opposition to Adbusters Buy Nothing Day (BND) and how BND is the better model of reform against the conspicuous consumption that takes place on Black Friday. I chose this idea because of a long lasting bitter feeling that I have always had surrounding Black Friday. The ploys that companies use every year to get people to buy a ton of shit they don't really need has always aggravated me. I shop for the holidays just like a lot of other people, but I go shopping for a specific item. I feel like retailers know this, but attempt (and I would say unfortunately succeed with our society) to get people to come in for that specific item they need, plus, because of crazy deals, get them to leave with hundreds of dollars worth of other crap along with it. I also work for a horrible grocer (Lunds & Byerlys) and the one I work at happens to be a quarter of a mile away from a Target. On November 25th, at 11:00pm, I punched out, walked out to the parking lot and noticed that the line to get into target spanned the entire quarter mile distance from one end of the mall to the other! That ONE Target (out of 1,750) made astronomical amounts of money that night from what I would consider slightly naive people (sorry if anyone reading this waited in line that night).
I am however slightly struggling with making my argument more concrete. Im finding it difficult to support how Adbusters and BND's message is working as the better representation of Black Friday in a more factual and tangible manner than just spitting out my personal bitter attitude and options.
