Starbucks’ holiday drink specials are now in season, Wal-Mart has exchanged Halloween candy for tree ornaments, and downtown Winston-Salem is already decked out in festive lights and wreathes. It’s official - the Christmas season has begun. And it’s not even Thanksgiving.
Of course, who doesn’t love the cheery spirit when it hits this time of year? I am the queen of Christmas Music playlists. But even as I was humming along to “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” in the grocery store the other day, it dawned on me. It was barely the second week in November. Does it ever seem like this merry season comes just a little too early every year? I sure think so.
I always thought Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, was the official kick off to the gift-giving season. Even as I sit here writing this blog, though, I am being bombarded with commercials on TV telling me about the sales going on as early as this week. And what is the Marketer perspective in this case? I think every retailer out there is trying to stay one step ahead of the game, trying to reach consumers as early as possible to avoid competition. Consider this – JCPenney is having huge sales next week, while Macy’s big 2-day sale has already come and gone. It’s no wonder that Macy’s had its Christmas gear out and on display probably two and a half weeks ago!
In the midst of all the early hype about holiday shopping, I can’t help but to laugh at some of the ads out there for the big Black Friday four-in-the-morning-shopping-sprees. Some of these retailers are really playing with the exciting aggressiveness that comes from trying to capture every good deal in a store. Target is one chain who has definitely gone all out in terms of advertising its biggest sale of the year. They have an entire line of ads with tips for Black-Friday-shopping strategies: “Check the Weather”, “Visualize your Path”, “Use Reverse Psychology”… they are all great. Follow this link to see some of the ads for yourself! I think they’ve been releasing one tip per day this week, each one starring this hyped up woman you see here:
I think where Target really struck gold with this campaign is that this lady is an insanely intense parodied version of any shopper-mom…She’s so extreme that even the really shopping-crazy moms won’t take offense. Gotta love it. Check out this YouTube version of one of her funnier commercials running right now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uE-EfEXHk8.
One thing I just can’t get over though is that while companies like Target build up this annual event in such a funny light, we can’t ignore the actual intensity that arouses when consumers get ready for big sales. It was two years ago that a poor Wal-Mart worker was trampled to his death after opening the doors to the store at 5am on Black Friday. Yikes! Yet alas, determined shoppers will still take their post-Turkey-bargain-hunting seriously, and you know stores will be jam-packed all day long. As for me, you can guarantee that by next Friday I’ll be busy accepting the arrival of the holiday season, cozied up listening to some Wintry classics.
Jackie Swoyer is a junior Business and Enterprise Management Major, Concentrating in Marketing and Minoring in Economics.
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