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Thread: Christmas and its "Special Offers" in Line With Global Consumerism

  1. #1

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    Christmas and its "Special Offers" in Line With Global Consumerism

    Last night I went Christmas shopping and was duly pigeon-held in place by The Industry of Commercialism as I became another of its unfortunate victims, who in the process had to endure the absurd eyesore of this monstrosity: a scarf in a box.

    Since when did shops start selling scarves in boxes? Do you get home from a cold day out, take off your scarf and put it in a box? No, of course you don't. What's the point? What a waste of resources. I can understand things like cufflinks presented in boxes, and possibly also things like wallets and belts coiled. The intention there is for display purposes. But scarves? Surely it defeats the object, given that when buying oneself a scarf, one would often like to "wrap for size" around one's neck in front of a mirror, no?

    Since when did EVERYTHING become a "special offer"? And this isn't limited to *shops* any more. And with asterisks either side, I'm talking proper shops. Your John Lewises, your Debenhamses. House of Fraser. NEXT. Selfridges. ZARA. Burton. But it doesn't stop there. Oh no. What I find most ludicrous of all is this:

    You're in a train station. You find yourself in, say, W H Smith. You select your favoured Cadbury's Wispa or Nestle Yorkie. Obviously when you select the latter you're careful to select one which isn't broken in half before you set its torso firmly into your grasp. That's a must. Anyway, so you get your chocolate bar and you take it to the counter. You see the 250g DAIRY MILK bars, the purple luxury yelping and jumping its beady eyes into your face, shouting, "I'm 2 for 1, and I only cost a pound. A POUND!" And the industrial-grade excuse for a checkout assistant mutters some semi-English words in your face, which resemble something like, "Buy the Dairy Milk, it's more chocolate..." "NO!" I will not. And if it was that special, why put it at the counter, when I'm only going to see it when I've already pre-selected my army of goods, and wish to pay for THOSE. That's right, THOSE that I've already PRE-SELECTED and wish to buy. Not some cast-offs from an erroneous delivery.

    When I was at a train station a few months ago (London Kings Cross to be precise), that is what happened to me. In fact, the checkout guy slowed my transaction down by offering me the "special" Dairy Milk chocolate. Even when I refused, his EXACT words were, "But this is better!" Then when asked for a carrier bag, he stated "That's 5p please." Fine, no problem. But I couldn't help myself and said, "You should do 2 for 1 on the bags as well, mate" in the most sarcastic of manners. He laughed, which told me he missed the point completely.

    Special offers are all very well, but I do have a real problem with most of them. People are buying more than they need just because it's on offer. The world, or rather I should say "those in power who drive" are making the world into a mass consumer money-grabbing competition chain, and everyone is behaving like they're just happy to accept it.

    Now if you're going to special offer-ise something, at least put it in the actual products part of the shop. Don't put it at the actual checkout desk. This isn't limited to train stations, I've seen it everywhere. Supermarkets cottoned on to it years ago and it frightens the hell out of me when I see people loading up on junk food at the checkout after they've already got a full trolley.

    Are people thinking any more, "Do I really need this?" Oh, and since when did the Advertising industry decide that everyone needs a new sofa in December?

    I can go to Marks and Spencer to shop for some wine glasses for a close relative, and in front of me there are probably 10-15 types of wine glasses to choose from. Why are there that many? I do not need this much choice.

    People are given freedom, we live in a "free" world. But when you give people too much choice, do they still have that freedom?

    These are just some of the things that truly annoy me in my day-to-day life. But it's all heightened to the max at Christmas time. And because I live in London. I try not to fall for these gimmicky things where the sole intention for shops is to make money. Shops aren't thinking "you need not one, but TWO of these things!" They're just about making money. And people aren't going against it... that's what worries me. People are welcoming it with open arms. "Hey, I need TWENTY types of bin liners to choose from, and I need them all on special offer!"

    When you see an advert for a swine flu vaccine product, with a strapline like "Germs spread everywhere, cover your mouth when you sneeze..." do you think that the manufacturer of the product is trying to help/protect you? Or are they just about selling their product, and really couldn't care less what happens to you, as long as you buy it?

    So yeah. I'm 24 years old and I feel like a stereotypical old-man-grumpy-fellow who dislikes more or less everything in the world and only cares about beer and cigarettes. Only I'm without the beer and the cigarettes.

    Happy Christmas everyone. As it's December, I'm off to buy a sofa. Actually, I'll get a pack of ten.

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  2. #2

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    So far I've done all my Xmas shopping online, I haven't been caught up in the hype to buy 10 sofa's from DFS's 12 month sale

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  3. #3

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    christmass and its special offers

    I don't want to be a kill joy because i liked xmas when i was a child .But it would not surprise me to learn that in recent years the majority of adults dis like it.

    The main reason probably being as you state in your post the rampant commercialization to which we all are subjected to from the beginning of oct each year.

    The other day i went to my local town the sun was shinning and during the 90mins i was there i must have passed hundreds of people doing there xmas shopping and it stuck me that i had not seen a single person whistling laughing or even smiling.

    We have been conned by commercialisation people often buy expensive presents because they are made to feel they have to not because they want to which is really defeating the object but opt out and you are made to feel some kind of faliure.

    The best thing i can say about christmass is THANK GOODNESS FOR BOXING DAY AND KEMPTON PARK.



  4. #4

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    Couldn't agree more Mick.

    The glitz, glamour, bells, whistles and all things monetary make Christmas one heck of a commercial mass-purchasing mission from a shop's point of view. And they advertise the out of it.

    The thing that's most worrying is that this continues throughout the year. The advertising is shoved in our faces, and people are buying so much stuff that they don't even need.

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  5. #5

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    It's now gone to Easter presents... Halloween presents... then it'll be St Patrick's day, or St Andrews, or whatever patron saint you choose...

    My keyboard's running out of ink....


  6. #6

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    I still don't get Birthday presents

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  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by bigcumba View Post
    It's now gone to Easter presents... Halloween presents... then it'll be St Patrick's day, or St Andrews, or whatever patron saint you choose...
    There's too many to choose from! Does that take away my freedom? :splapme


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  8. #8

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    Yes, for a long time I have only been buying things that ''I NEED'' occasionally I treat myself but not often, and when I buy new technology it is after the dust has settled and the bugs have been ironed out of new products and also when the price has dropped dramatically because another ''must have'' product has come out.

    For a long time now I have thought that the uk population has generally been living beyond what it can actually afford, which in a large part is the cause of this current recession (this includes people buying houses they cant really afford) of course the banks are also to blame. And also this is going to be one reason why the uk will take such a long time to recover (obviously the amount of debt we have now won't help!) but when the country continues to spend more than what is coming in of course it cant be a good thing.

    The car scrappage scheme has put another dent in our trade deficit as so many cars have been imported than what would otherwise have been. Of course on a personal level it was great for my parents that got a new car for peanuts. But for me, I have always seen a brand new car as an un-nessesary luxury



  9. #9

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    christmass and its special offers

    Quote Originally Posted by barrelmaniac View Post
    Yes, for a long time I have only been buying things that ''I NEED'' occasionally I treat myself but not often, and when I buy new technology it is after the dust has settled and the bugs have been ironed out of new products and also when the price has dropped dramatically because another ''must have'' product has come out.

    For a long time now I have thought that the uk population has generally been living beyond what it can actually afford, which in a large part is the cause of this current recession (this includes people buying houses they cant really afford) of course the banks are also to blame. And also this is going to be one reason why the uk will take such a long time to recover (obviously the amount of debt we have now won't help!) but when the country continues to spend more than what is coming in of course it cant be a good thing.

    The car scrappage scheme has put another dent in our trade deficit as so many cars have been imported than what would otherwise have been. Of course on a personal level it was great for my parents that got a new car for peanuts. But for me, I have always seen a brand new car as an un-nessesary luxury
    I must admit cars have never been my thing. And a brand new one would be totally wasted on me.I have seen several friends over the years buy new cars (on credit) and then not really enjoy them any way!.The repayments, incredibly the number of things that go wrong with them, and the constant concern that it will get stolen or scratched.Perhaps some forward thinking manufacture will start producing them with ready made designer dents and scratches!.



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