Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

The reality of Christmas shopping? Stress-filled, well-intentioned folk buying sad, unwanted presents in a hassled environment

After everything I've seen this weekend and before, I now enjoy Thanksgiving more than our own festivities

Stefano Hatfield
Sunday 29 November 2015 18:19 GMT
Comments
£16,718 is owed by Foot Locker to 601 of its workers
£16,718 is owed by Foot Locker to 601 of its workers

Look, I’m not naïve. I know the retailers and the media have to make a buck, and that most consumers will be looking to save one.

Therefore, the fact that Black Friday was the biggest advertising revenue-driving day of the year for Britain’s struggling newspapers; that retailers saw up to ten times their normal footfall - even if there wasn’t the dangerous free-for-alls of last year; and the prospect of Britain’s first £1bn day of online shopping are all good news for the economy.

What’s more, I’m sure that the fact that Amazon.co.uk had its biggest UK sales day ever (six million items ordered), will translate into extra tax revenues for George Osborne and the rest of us. Oh…

But then the videos started to emerge from the United States. You know the ones, poor people (often from ethnic minorities), having queued in the sub-zero November night, trampling over each other to pour through the newly-opened store doors; poor people fighting over discounted giant TVs; crashing into store displays as they wrestle each other; massing in desperate hundreds (15,000 outside Macy’s in Manhattan), to be the first to grab or snatch a bargain.

It’s the new circus. Why go to the amphitheatre to see poor people battle each other for survival, when you can laugh at them online? Or, as video after video revealed: laugh as you film them on your smartphone. Throw in a lurid dose of “bitch-slapping” and you have the new online video click-bait heaven.

A man I previously thought intelligent told me this week with a straight face that he never bought anything because of advertising. When I had the privilege of enjoying daily interaction with readers as editor of the i, readers would say the same thing, before telling me kindly that they loved i, because it was “a concise, quality read for only 20p”.

It’s true that the world of marketing, media and retailing have connived to create “Black Friday”, but it doesn’t mean we have to go along with it. My only deal on the day was a half-price chicken soup lunch offer that I hadn’t been aware of before paying. Despite its relative success, many more people have seen advertising for i than actually buy the paper daily.

And now it’s full-square for December 25th. Nothing threatened my love for Christmas more than doing seasonal work in both the Next, Exeter and Allders of Croydon stores as a student. And not just because of that damned festive music loop. Aargh!

It wasn’t so much the naked avarice on display, it’s the sheer futility of it all. Stress-filled, well-intentioned folk buying sad, unwanted presents in a hassled environment, labouring under a huge burden of guilt and obligation.

There are 12 days of Christmas and none of them are in bloody November! I just wanted then – as now – to give the gift of what a teenager might call a “chill pill”. Relax. Just enjoy each other’s company. That’s why, as I said last week, I now prefer Thanksgiving. And that’s why the present-giving side of Christmas becomes less enjoyable to me every year. Or maybe I’m just getting older? Eek! Gotta go. I’ve forgotten to buy the girls’ Advent calendars.

Stefano Hatfield is editor in chief of High50

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in