The last few years have seen more and more businesses corporations skipping over Thanksgiving in order to sell Christmas-related products for more customers and profits.
A few years ago, shoppers were waking up early or staying up late to wait for stores to open around midnight on Black Friday. However, it is common practice now for stores to be opening opening as early as the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day. With the emphasis on Christmas and holiday shopping, most stores barely acknowledge that Thanksgiving exists.
This contrast the average American who often spends most of Thanksgiving having fun with family, eating tons and watching the National Football League. The holiday is acknowledged and celebrated by most of the United States which is polarized by businesses.
Alex Smith, junior, exemplifies this average American. “I have always had Thanksgiving with my parents and grandparents,” Smith said. “I don’t know any family that does not do something for the holiday.”
Even with families like Smiths celebrating Thanksgiving every year, companies seem to want their shoppers to overlook this holiday in order to prepare for Christmas with some stores even putting up the first of the Christmas stuff in July. The most obvious-and unsurprising-reason for this is the money involved in Christmas shopping. The average american spends around 600 dollars on presents, decorations and other amenities associated with the holiday.
The earlier companies can get their customers to start shopping, the better. This way, customers have more time to spend money during the holiday season and allows companies to make sure they have gotten every dollar they can out of consumers to pad their bottom line.
This year, Thanksgiving falls on one of the latest dates possible for the holiday on the 28th of November. A later Thanksgiving date creates less time for shoppers to get Christmas shopping done. This forces companies to start Black Friday deals before the shopping frenzy is scheduled to begin. Smith said, “In the store that I work in, we already have more Christmas themed products and decor than Thanksgiving.”
Parents seem to be noticing the change that Smith noticed too. Parent Mary Rice said, “I started to receive tons of Christmas promotions in March which I found ridiculous.”
With start earlier start to the advertisement season, it waits to be seen if this strategy will still grow business even with the late Thanksgiving. But what can be said is that companies are trying to paint over Thanksgiving for the more lucrative Christmas.
