First we had Black Friday, and the death that ensued. That just wasn’t enough for retailers, though. They wanted another opportunity to get in some hype and so Shop.org invented the term “Cyber Monday” for the shopping on the Monday following Black Friday. Business Week emphatically states that all is not as it seems:

Just one problem:
It’s not true, at least for many online retailers. Contrary to what the
recent blitz of media coverage implies, Cyber Monday isn’t nearly the
biggest online shopping or spending day of the year. It ranks only as
the 12th-biggest day historically, according to market researcher
comScore Networks. It’s not even the first big day of the season. 
For most online retailers, the bigger spending day of the
season to date was way back on Nov. 22, three days before Black Friday.
What’s more, most e-tailers say the season’s top spending day comes
much later, between around Dec. 5 and Dec. 15.

Then a little later, we get this admission from one of the creators of Cyber Monday:

“It’s not the biggest day,” Silverman concedes. “But it was an opportunity to create some consumer excitement.”

What’s
next?  An entire Week of Shopping Glory, dedicated to the beauty of
commerce and all things related to it? Why do we need these special
days invented for our benefit when it is clearly not at all in our
benefit?

5 Comments

  1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    That’s a fine article, Gordon, and I thank you for bringing it to our attention. The fact that the Christmas sales and advertising started before Halloween is yet another marker that the USA is all about commerce and the bottom dollar — the meaning behind the meme is lost in the midst.

  2. There was a Peanuts comic where they were joking about the advertising starting before Halloween eventually… how well they knew the world to come so many years ago!

  3. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    It’s a big disappointment, Gordon. It’s as if Thanksgiving doesn’t even exist now!

  4. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    Gordon Davidescu says:

    To think — a mere year later — Cyber Monday leads to a Cyber Monday meltdown!
    http://urbansemiotic.com/2009/12/02/cyber-monday-meltdown/

  5. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Love that article, Gordon! I totally should’ve done a search on “Cyber Monday” so I could link it in my article!

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