November 23, 2023

Thanksgiving in the United States is increasingly overshadowed by Black Friday’s commercialism.  While the commercial connection between Christmas and Thanksgiving goes back a while, the ascent of commercialism (together with historical revisionism) is destroying Americans’ awareness of the roots of their holidays.

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Constraining Thanksgiving Commercialism

In “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Lucy deplores the commercialization of Christmas, tellingly assuring us “We all know Christmas is a big commercial racket.  It’s ruined by a big Eastern syndicate, ya know.”

Criticizing the commercialization of Christmas is standard holiday fare.  But the truth is: it’s bleeding into Thanksgiving.

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Thanksgiving has always had some commercial nexus.  Being so close to Christmas and with many families enjoying a long Thanksgiving weekend, there’s always been some association between the two holidays.  For many towns, the Thanksgiving weekend was a chance for Santa Claus to arrive on town squares or store thrones, an opportunity for cities and villages to turn on their Christmas decorations and maybe even put up a Christmas Tree for later official lighting.  

The commercial nexus isn’t even that new: it goes back more than four score years!  Up until 1939, Americans observed Thanksgiving on the last Thursday of November.  But that could be as late as November 29 or 30, as it was that year, leaving a bit over three weeks till Christmas.  Wanting to get Americans out of Depression doldrums, FDR switched Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November, giving retailers a little extra time cushion to sell their wares.

Of course, we now speak of “Black Friday” (intended to keep sellers in the black rather than red).  “Black Friday” has proliferated into multiple sales and spending days, urging Americans to buy local, buy cyber, donate to charity… in short, loosen their purse strings. 

But perhaps the most invidious seepage of commercialization into Thanksgiving has been the creep into Thanksgiving itself. 

Once upon a time, “Black Friday” started a little earlier on Friday morning.  Gradually, kickoff time got earlier and earlier until some stores were opening at midnight. 

But to open to customers at midnight means staff needs to be there earlier, i.e., on Thanksgiving itself.  And that staff isn’t the CEOs or even the green eyeshade accountant types measuring the black ink.  It’s typically the shift floor workers, earning minimum wage or a little more, who are expected to report.