Week 1

http://adage.com/article?article_id=132999
"Lawsuit: Marketing Blamed in Wal-Mart Trampling Death"
From Advertising Age Online

This article is about a Wal-Mart associate that was trampled to death from stampedes on the morning of Black Friday. According to the National Retail Federation, Jdimytai Damour's death was a "Black Friday first." In the lawsuit filed by the victim's family, they blame both security and advertising for the incident. Their reasoning was that without advertising, the crowds gathered outside of Wal-Mart wouldn't have been as large and there wouldn't have been so much "frenzy and mayhem."

It just amazes me how our society has come to what it is... that a man has to die so that someone else can get a hold of some great gadget for a good deal. I personally have never been one to get up and shop at 5am for Black Friday, so I can't say I'm ever around the crowds of crazed individuals, but it all just seems a bit obnoxious. A man's life so that someone can save money? Is it really that important? The article said that the worker died from asphyxiation after "being crushed when the crowd broke open electronic doors as the store opened." All I can picture are a bunch of vultures wanting to attack one another, because that's certainly how all of this sounds.

The one part of the article that bothered me the most about this whole situation is the part where it said: "At least one local police official and one retail marketing consultant also argue that Black Friday marketing and merchandising practices need to change in the wake of the incident." At least one police official and one marketing consultant. Are those the only two that feel the need for something to change? The rep for Wal-Mart didn't seem anything beyond professional... as if he said the company was sad for Damour's death because it was the right thing to do, not because he actually meant it. It's difficult to believe that anything is going to change because of the situation. Wal-Mart still needs to draw in the crowds to make their money.