Thanksgiving is Becoming “Thanksbuying”

Thanksgiving is the day of giving appreciation and thanks. Yet instead of giving thanks, it seems like everyone is getting caught up in Black Friday. Many stores are even opening on Thanksgiving Day.

Black Friday has traditionally started the day after Thanksgiving, but now many retail stores such as Best Buy, Toys R Us, and Walmart are opening on Thanksgiving day as early as 5pm. Because many stores are opening on Thursday, the precious hours meant to be spent with family are being cut short. Employees that work for these certain stores are affected, because they must give up a big part of their day from their family to work.

Sonya Park, who teaches at Cal State Fullerton, told JSR, “I think it’s unfair for employees who can’t spend Thanksgiving evening with their families.”

Additionally, the customers are affected because if they wait until Friday to go to Black Friday sales, all the deals will have already vanished.

Thus, local pastor Israel Kim told JSR that asking customers to leave for Black Friday on Thanksgiving is a “marketing strategy to earn more money with the cost of jeopardizing one of the biggest family-oriented celebrations.”

Kim continued, saying that Black Friday is causing the loss of “the very meaning of Thanksgiving by making people shift their attention on materialistic things.”

According to Angela Kim, a Valencia High School senior and JSR editor, “Having Black Friday on the same day as Thanksgiving defeats the whole purpose of giving thanks and appreciation to all you have right now… [and] it breeds ignorance as well as materialistic views.”

She added, “This could really damage the whole purpose of the holidays.”

This cherished time to give thanks and appreciate family is being replaced by a time to consume products. The power and true meaning of Thanksgiving is becoming more and more blurred; as Thanksgiving season approaches, we should remember its true reason.