BlogHer - shopping - Comments

Great article!

marthanws8 — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:08:16 -0600

Great article, and I agree with Sierra. With the financial condition of most of us being "not-so-good", we need to curtail our expenses a lot. Fortunately my kids are very understanding so it helps in that regard. I won't spend a dime on Black Friday, and even my Xmas spending would be very limited to some cards for my loved ones, a few cheap toys for my kids that I would buy from target.com, and some other stuff. Basically it would be a "low budget Christmas" in our household, the first time ever! :D

Peace!

Martha Jons

a non-consumer day

Sierra Black — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:34:22 -0600

A lot of us, myself included, will be celebrating Buy Nothing Day tomorrow, and refraining from shopping at all. Which is another way to stay in budget on Black Friday.

If you must buy something you can always give to charity on behalf of your loved ones: http://childwild.com/2009/11/27/charitable-holiday-gift-guide/

Sierra Black - embracing the wild heart of parenting - www.childwild.com

If only all marketers were

greenlagirl — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:00:18 -0600

If only all marketers were as thoughtful as you are! Unfortunately, it's no secret that much of the Black Friday marketing has to do with trying to get people to buy stuff they don't need, simply because it's on sale -- something I think we can all agree needs to be avoided!

About the Whirl-A-Mart thing -- I haven't done this myself, and don't plan to, but my feelings about it aren't quite as outraged as yours. For one, I think the goal is not to make life hard for low wage workers, but to target media / higher ups in the corporation to draw attention to overconsumption and, even worse, the literal people trampling that happens at Wal-Mart on Black Friday.

Of course, any protest will affect the workers in that particular store -- who, in the case of Wal-Mart especially, are badly compensated for their work. But corporations have often argued that important and meaningful protests by activists are done "on the back of low wage workers" -- which I think is a very insidious tact for trying to shut down needed activist work. By that logic, we should protest least the corporations that treat workers the worst -- because it hurts the workers!

But I do think you're pointing more to a fine line -- meaning we can both support legitimate protest but disagree as to what extent it's ok to inconvenience the workers (I believe that for you, the Whirl-a-Mart dealio's crossing the line -- a perspective I can certainly appreciate even if I don't completely share).

green LA girl

Wikipedia

Maria Niles — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:04:23 -0600

I should make clear (apologies for late night ranting and not linking) this is what set me off (not Siel's post nor Ad Busters' description). I was curious about the "whirl marts" idea so searched for more information and from Wikipedia:

Some variations of the whirl-mart protest involve filling carts but then simply abandoning them or, when checking out, claiming to have forgotten the money to purchase the items in the overflowing cart, leaving said cart for the employees to clean up.

BlogHer Contributing Editor PopConsumer Beyond Help

I Completely Agree

InkAndPixelClub — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:03:10 -0600

The fastest way to turn anyone off to any cause is to show them that you don't care about them and their situation. While the intention might not be to abandon the filled shopping carts (the Adbusters website describes it as several people with shopping marts continually looping through the store without buying anything), the idea that so many of these Buy Nothing Day actions seem designed to annoy or mock low level employees or shoppers makes me feel like the actions are more about the people doing the action showing off how smart and non-consumerist they are and less about convincing anyone of anything. By all means, g out with signs and literature and try to convince people not to buy things they don't want, don't need, and can't afford. But these suggested "actions" are probably going to do more harm than good for the cause. Would you be inclined to reexamine your buying habits because someone is shuffling around the tore you work at dressed as a zombie or if you couldn't find a shopping cart because six people are tooling around the store in the last few without actually buying anything?

With all due respect, I'm a little disappointed by this article overall. This year especially, we're being bombarded by messages to buy buy buy because if we don't, the economy won't recover, stores will close, and our friends and neighbors will get laid off. In the face of that, I was hoping for a little more practical advice on how to balance enjoying the holidays with being environmentally conscious and thrifty, not just "rent this movie" or "read this book." It's a good start, but I'd really like some more advice about how to priortize and still enjoy the holidays without breaking the bank or the planet.

Sara

www.inkandpixelclub.com

I'm doing an article now on

Sierra Black — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:31:05 -0600

I'm doing an article now on having a non-consumer holiday. One of the big tips I keep coming across is the value of sharing one or two nice gifts with family members and children, rather than a flood of cheap ones. Sierra Black - embracing the wild heart of parenting - www.childwild.com

Filling and abandoning shopping carts?

Maria Niles — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:54:09 -0600

Filling up a shopping cart and leaving it to the clerks to clean up and restock? I have to say that tactic sounds appalling. Yay for promoting a message of mindful consumption and purchasing what you need rather than useless items. As a marketer this is what I want people to do - to buy something I'm selling because it is really what they want and need. My job is to give them the information they need to make such a decision not to push or trick them into buying something which unfortunately happens often enough to give marketing a bad reputation.

But boo for the idea of doing it on the back of low wage workers who likely feel fortunate to be employed in this economy and are probably stretched thin and struggling to support themselves and their families. And sending a message to clerks and cashiers doesn't really hit the appropriate target. As most of the other actions you offer for consideration show, we can raise our individual and collective consciousness without self-righteously punishing others who are simply trying to earn a living.

BlogHer Contributing Editor PopConsumer Beyond Help

Hey! I've been there

sassymonkey — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:21:57 -0600

I went to the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center a few years ago. My friends have a cottage on Lake Champlain and every now and while most of the time we just sit around the cottage and eat and read sometimes we actually do things. We all liked ECHO quite a bit.

Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Einstein, Mascara and Chicken Wings

Bitches on a Budget — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:25:48 -0600

That mascara IS the best ever. Eyeliner is good--but it's not as 'special' as the mascara.

Hope that helps!

Xo Roz

Good work!

blackbird — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:13:58 -0600

Good work!

I have an expensive blue

njgeiger — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:54:31 -0600

I have an expensive blue wool suit that's old, but that I love and always get compliments on. One spring I saw that there were 3 tiny holes up near the right shoulder. There was no way to mend them, so I bought 3 blue "jewels" from a craft store and super glued them over the holes. Everyone thinks the jacket came like that! I am not crafty at all - so was very proud of myself for saving a favorite outfit! :)

Nancy

Can you recommend a good

sarah_bee — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:15:43 -0600

Can you recommend a good website or magazine that shows trends I can TRUST? It's hard to know what magazines/sites are well edited....

blinc is new holy grail!

sarah_bee — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:12:42 -0600

Tried BLINC mascara after reading this post and LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. It's definitely a splurge, but never smears or rubs off or leaves circles. Not having to think about it after applying is worth the extra fifteen bucks. I'm wondering: Have you tried their eyeliner? I'm curious if it's as good.

Twitter, Thrift and Sexy shoes

Bitches on a Budget — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:29:06 -0600

Just remember the search and lust rule: go hunting and leave it, if you wake up the next morning and need to have it--then go back and make it your own!

Xo Roz

No big spending gulps

RTG — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:18:35 -0600

I think I'm going to apply this advice to all of my holiday shopping this year. Wish me luck!