With winter break nearing, it’s exciting to finally get a chance to relax at home and prep for the Christmas spirit. However, as someone who works retail and is a self-proclaimed anti-capitalist, it really sucks to see how capitalism just strips the Christmas spirit straight out of everyone. Whether you hate capitalism to the core or are an avid capitalist in your bones, you can’t escape it.
The start of this downfall begins at almost every middle-class family’s favorite shopping time of the year — Black Friday. People line up at the door eagerly hoping to snatch the apparent “best” deals of the year for their kids’ Christmas gifts.
It honestly shocks me that people haven’t yet caught on to the fact that Black Friday is not anything special. Essentially, retail stores inflate prices and then put a “sale” sticker next to it to make consumers feel like they’re saving money when they really aren’t. Black Friday is just another day when a store has most of these “sales” going on at the same time. So please don’t let capitalism fool you and just sleep in after Thanksgiving- your body will thank you.
(Spoiler alert: the best deals you’ll ever get are the day after Christmas.)
On top of that, this addictive consumer mentality during the holiday season creates a sense of competition among young kids. When kids from low-income families see that Santa got them “less expensive” gifts or even no gifts at all, while their middle-class and upper-class peers got tons and tons of toys, it takes a toll on them. These kids start to believe they’re not as well behaved or as worth it as their wealthier peers.
Capitalism has also made everyone believe that Christmas is a time to buy unnecessary wasteful products that probably won’t be touched a few weeks after a kid opening their gift. It honestly even made me feel guilty as a kid receiving gifts from extended family that I had no use for or did not like. There’s no need to be compulsively buying commodities for kids who you may not know too well.
With all this in mind, I’d definitely be a hypocrite if I didn’t say I gave into compulsive buying and capitalism myself. I am also by no means advocating not to buy Christmas gifts, but I am trying to at least caution people to think twice about their Christmas shopping habits.
However, it’s important to remember that Christmas is a time for everyone to spend time with the people you love and take a deserved break from work and school responsibilities.