A protective grandfather received a complimentary pile of bloody paper towels as part of his Black Friday shopping experience, after police slammed him to the floor at a Walmart in Buckeye, Ariz. What did he do to receive this amazing offer?
What's the funniest thing about this video of people nearly rioting over a $2 waffle iron at Wal-Mart? Probably the bit where it embodies everything awesome about America, including a horrible economy, aggressive consumerism, mindless violence and a complete lack of concern for one's fellow human beings. And let's not forget internet rubbernecking and smug class hatred, sure to arrive soon in comments on all the finest sites on the web! Happy Black Friday, everyone! [@HurrAKAneCam19 via Short Form Blog]
An angry (and strategic) shopper in Los Angeles pepper sprayed about 20 people trying to get X-Boxes 360 on Thursday night, sending at least one person to the hospital. In North Carolina, a shootout broke out at 2 a.m. outside a mall where shoppers had gathered. Yes—it's the most wonderful time of the year. Happy Black Friday, everyone!
Who's excited for the most trample-riffic day of the shopping year? Not me. But if ever there was a match made in marketing heaven, it's Black Friday and Rebecca Black's brain-corroding earworm of a viral hit, "Friday." It's the meme that won't die, on the day that won't end (for America's retail employees, that is). Hit it, Kohl's! [via Adrants]
Glorious American capitalism has advanced so much in the past year that the traditional "Black Friday" day of shopping hell has now become "Black Midnight," in which major big box retailers open their doors on the first, dark minute of the day after Thanksgiving, so that your time in pre-Christmas retail torment may be prolonged as much as possible. Target's doing it. Best Buy's doing it. But... but what about Wal-Mart?
As far as we can tell, nobody died yesterday in Black Friday madness. But this guy got trampled at a Buffalo, New York Target store. He attempted to continue his hunt for bargains, only to collapse from the pain.
So yes, today is Black Friday, the day when big stores roll out big, one-day-only bargains in the hopes of setting a high sales bar for the all-important Holiday Season (Christmas! And, to a much lesser extent, Chanukkah!) Good savings are especially urgent this year, with the economy in the crapper and everyone needing to buy things for as cheap as possible (just short of not buying it at all. That would be ludicrous!) Every year, people line up super, super early in the morning. And in some cases, store employees get trampled to death when the doors open and crazed shoppers try to push their way in. (Un)Fortunately there is no photo documentation of that particular melee, but Getty managed to snap some shots at Macy's in New York City and at a Best Buy electronics store in Los Angeles this morning and the madness is palpable. Click after the jump for a gallery.
I don't know if this happened because no one has money so sales are very important, or if no one realizes that no one has money so buying things, no matter the cost, is still very important. But, it happened. A Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death early this morning during a Black Friday shopping stampede on Long Island. The man was a 34-year-old stockroom employee of the super store, who was trying to keep a bargain-crazed horde at bay. In the end they proved too strong for him.
♦ Going shopping on Friday? Expect bargains galore. "This could be the most heavily promotional Black Friday in history," says National Retail Federation president Tracy Mullin. [WWD, WSJ]
♦ At last night's British Fashion Awards, Luella Bartley was "thrilled" to be named British Designer of the Year, while Model of the Year, 19-year-old Jourdan Dunn, stole the evening with a tearful acceptance speech. [WWD]
♦ Last year a documentary team followed Anna Wintour, André Leon Talley, and the rest of the Vogue team around as they put together their biggest-ever September issue. Does the fact that the film is "creating heat" as a potential Sundance entry mean that the rest of us might get to see it one day? [Reuters]
And it continues: 02138, the glossy mag for Harvard alumni that was bought by Manhattan Media last May, is folding. The magazine was conceptually pretentious and we've made fun of it plenty in the past, but honestly, we don't really have the heart right now. At this point we support any publication with paying jobs. The Great Magazine Die-Off is going to be a bitch. The full statement on the magazine's death is below:
