The group that provided the idea for the Occupy Wall Street movement is also taking aim at shopping with an annual promotion for what it calls Buy Nothing Day: | Adbusters Culturejammer Headquarters http://bit.ly/tTxB7w. This will be the 20th year that the Adbusters group has run its Buy Nothing campaign on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and an annual festival of sales kicking off the holiday shopping season.
Background on the editors of the Canadian magazine Adbusters: Kalle Lasn and Micah White, the Creators of Occupy Wall Street: The New Yorker http://nyr.kr/tycsF9
Another group of people is also protesting the extraordinary overnight shopping hours and the sales that in some cases will start at 10 PM on Thanksgiving Day. A petition started by one Target worker in Omaha, Neb., now has 130,000 names on it. Many retail workers and their families don't want their holiday interrupted: Retail backlash over Thanksgiving night openings http://bit.ly/uhqeVt
A recent consumer survey found that most people interviewed said they would think more highly of retailers that give employees the day off on Thursday: | Mainstreet http://bit.ly/szLkT6. Other surveys show that more than 60% of shoppers are already planning a store trip on Black Friday.
Are they remembering the 2008 Long Island crowd that trampled a worker? Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death - NYTimes.com http://nyti.ms/vLvR6u What have stores in your area done to avoid a repeat?
Prompts of the day:
*Is someone in your family working on Thanksgiving?
*Should retail employees have Thursday off?
*What is on your Black Friday shopping list?
*How much do you expect to spend on gifts this year? How does that compare to last year?
*How many gifts do you plan to buy online?
Full stats on holiday shopping: Black Friday 2011 - Deals, Tips and Statistics - TheStreet http://bit.ly/uTbmc8
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