Hutto 1

Louis Henry Hutto IV

English 101
Professor Alicia Bolton
27 October 2014
Black Friday Shopping: The American Barbarians
Andrew Leonard argues that the day after Thanksgiving sales, also known as Black
Friday, shopping and advertisements have gone too far in Black Friday: Consumerism Minus
Civilization. Leonard gives us such examples as The Crazy Target Lady, grown men screaming
at Justin Bieber, and remakes of Rebecca Blacks song Friday. With these examples Leonard
shows how the American shoppers become uncivilized and barbaric during the events of Black
Friday by trampling other shoppers and going to stores in the middle of the night just for the
items that are on sale. Although he tells of how Black Friday is ridiculous consumerism, Leonard
also says, I am not opposed to vigorous sprees of retail spending. For the sake of the U.S.
economy, I would love to see a robust Christmas shopping season and I plan to do my part
(132). Leonard does not hate American consumerism; he only hates the barbaric nature that
people exhibit during this time period because of all the advertising hype from companies trying
to sell their products. I agree with Leonard that the Black Friday shopping and advertising has
gone too far, and that the increase of shopping for the Christmas season is not a bad thing.
Is it true that the advertising for Black Friday shopping has gone too far? Leonard tells
that the marketing has, and I agree with him. The use of adults going all out for this night of
sales has taken the Black Friday advertising to a new level. Targets use of the Crazy Target
Lady is one example of this; she is shown exercising for the night of Black Friday, showing off
her Black Friday utility belt, and giving tips for the shoppers to get to the door busters while,

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finally, eating her ginger bread men almost cannibalistically. Leonard describes her as a lunatic
and he says, She might be a lunatic, but its a culturally approved lunacy the kind that keeps
the American engine of capitalism all stoked up (133). Essentially, he says that even though she
is a crazy lady, it is accepted by the American society because it is all in the good fun of Black
Friday. Also, that this type of behavior by the American shoppers is what keeps the capitalistic
machine running. I agree with him in this statement because the Crazy Target Lady takes her
shopping to the extreme with her tips drafting off of other shoppers and trampling anyone that
might get in your way. Another example of taking Black Friday shopping to the extreme is
Kohls Black Friday rendition of Rebecca Blacks song Friday. In this song parody, the
singer describes how shes been online since the day before and how everyone is going to Kohls
at midnight. As Leonard describes theres a point where healthy consumerism becomes out of
control marketing-driven commodity fetishism (132). This is another way that shows how the
American consumer is uncivilized and hooked on with almost a fetish for Black Friday by the
fact that they will spend hours, maybe days, just to get the sales, and how they will stand in line
in the middle of the night also. According to Anahita Cameron, a target human resources
director, [Black Friday] is the busiest shopping day of the year, it is imperative that we be
competitive (qtd. in Leonard134). Basically what she is saying that whatever the companies do
to bring in shoppers is all fair game and anything can and will go.
Leonard explains the evils of the Black Friday advertising by the barbaric nature
exhibited by American consumers during the shopping. But although he tells how he thinks it is
taken too far, he is not against the increased shopping of the Christmas season. Leonard states,
I am not opposed to vigorous sprees of retail spending. For the sake of the U.S.
economy, I would love to see a robust Christmas shopping season and I plan to do

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my part. I find the notion that we should occupy Black Friday and withhold our
consumer dollars as a way of hitting back at the 1 percent just nutty. Voluntarily
subtracting demand from the economy hurts us. A general consumer strike would
result in more layoffs and pay cuts and bankruptcies and foreclosures. Sure, WalMart would take a hit, but so would Wal-Mart employees. (132)
Leonard explains with his statement that the result of us stopping our ravenous buying during
Black Friday would cause a break in our capitalistic market. I agree with Leonard on this topic
because he is right. If no one bought from say: Wal-Mart, Target, or Kohls, this would cause a
very large decrease in revenue which would again result in less money for the employees of
these stores. Although it may seem that this Black Friday behavior is only getting worse, for
example companies want to move the Black Friday sales to the day of Thanksgiving too, this
behavior may be improving in people such as the nearly 200,000 signatures of part-time target
workers that are trying to stop this moving forward of the Black Friday sales and Save
Thanksgiving Leonard explains this as proof that both employees and customers of Target are
beginning to see this endless race by retailers to one-up each other as dehumanizing and
ridiculous (134). Leonard explains how people have finally started to see the fault in their ways
and though it may be a smaller step towards caviling Black Friday, it is still a step towards
making the shopping season less barbaric.
Leonard is correct about how Black Friday advertising by corporations and the shopping
by the American consumers have gone too far, and become the American barbarians. He uses the
examples of the Crazy Target Lady and the Kohls Black Friday rendition of the song Friday
to show how the craziness of the shopping have become a culture for us Americans, and also
how we enjoy the chaotic nature of it. Also, although he hates the over the top advertisements

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and shopping habits, he believes that an increase of shopping for the Christmas season is not a
bad thing, and it helps our capitalistic economy. He is correct with his claims of how Black
Friday shopping and advertisements have gone too far, but the increase of shopping are not a bad
thing.

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Works Cited
Leonard, Andrew. Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization. The Norton Field Guide to
Writing with Readings and Handbook. 3rd ed. Ed. Richard Bullock, Maureen Daly
Goggin, and Francine Weinberg. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. 131-136.
Print.