ssues & ideas

EDITOR RENEE SUTTON

THE DAILY VOICE, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 26,2014

7

By MEL EDGAR

lack Friday is a traditional time

before American Thanksgiving

where our neighbours to the

south gather to beat each other
bloody for pre-holiday deals, and now
this tradition has taken root here in
Canada.

Many businesses in Oakridge Mall
are participating in the Black Friday
sales.

“We are trying to offer price match-
ing and removing sales tax,” said Vicki
Minhas, associate manager of The
Source at Oakridge Mall. “We are try-
ing to keep shoppers from going down
to the States.”

“Black Friday is becoming a Cana-
dian shopping event,” said Brenda

BLACK

FRIDA

Longland, marketing director at
Oakridge Mall.

Oakridge Mall, along with Guildford
Town Centre and Metropolis at Me-
trotown, are participating in One Day
of Wonder, as part of a national event
where shoppers use the hashtag #One-
DayWonder to win prizes, including
$500 gift cards.

Emersen Phillips, a nanny visiting
Oakridge Mall from California, said
that having a Black Friday event in
Canada is a bad idea. “In the States it
starts earlier and earlier each year, and
takes away from family time,” she said.

Katherine Wong, a new mother, said
that although she has shopped on
Black Friday in the past, she no longer
has the time.

“If anything I will be shopping on-

RENEE SUTTON Illustration
Newspapers have been advertising for Black Friday sales around the city, as the tradition is becoming a Canadian event.

Black Friday greed is in BC

Local shops combat cross-border competition during the holidays

66

line,” said Wong.

Even BC Liquor Stores are jumping
on the opportunity to get involved in
Black Friday. In an email, April Ke-

mick, manager of communications, B lack .
said BC Liquor Stores will be offering F riday is
special Black Friday pricing for the °
first year ever. becoming a
BC Liquor Store deals will incudea Canadian
few store favourites, as well as eight to °
ten products that are not currently in- shop ping
store. event
Kemick said BC Liqour Stores are
not specifically trying to keep custom- LOnREAND

ers in B.C. because consumers still
have to abide by alcohol limits when
crossing the border. She said custom-
ers anticipate sales, and that they are
trying to meet customer expectations.

OAKRIDGE MALL
MARKETING
DIRECTOR

Buy nothing for a day, if you can

Adbusters’ annual Buy
Nothing Day campaign
challenges consumers not
to buy anything for a day

By KERA SKOCYLAS

hile hordes of people plan on
Wisin in lines for Black Fri-

day deals this week, consum-
ers in over 60 countries will be doing
the exact opposite and participating in
Buy Nothing Day instead.

Buy Nothing Day is an awareness-
raising campaign which launched in
Vancouver over 20 years ago with the
intention of getting people to think
about the dark side of consumerism. It
is a test for people to see if they have
the willpower to purchase nothing for
24 hours, founder of this social cam-
paign and editor of Adbusters maga-
zine Kalle Lasn said.

Shelby Stead, Langara business stu-
dent, said she couldn’t do Buy Nothing
Day. “I have a shopping problem,” she
said.

“It is a personal challenge,” Lasn
said, “perhaps if you do that you will
have an epiphany halfway through the

day about the power of the impulse to
buy.” Lasn said when they launched
Buy Nothing Day in Vancouver it had a
huge impact.

“We tried to get across this idea that
whenever you buy something, you ac-
tually have an ecological impact on the
planet and we wanted people, for one
day, to think about it,” he said.

Adam Kelliher, Langara Earth Stom-
pers representative, could not be
reached at print time, but he spoke
about consumerism in an interview
with The Voice in October.

“One of the reasons we consume so
many things is that we get satisfaction
from the wrong places,” Kelliher said.
“People talk about third world coun-
tries and how they have nothing and
they are still happy, we may have a
whole bunch of things and still be hap-
py here, but the point is that we don’t
need all those extra things.”

Lasn said Buy Nothing Day is the
best social campaign they have ever
done.

“T hope in the next few years, instead
of maxing out our credit cards going
into Christmas we can turn to the spirit
of a Buy Nothing Day, living more fru-
gally and having less impact on the
planet,” Lasn said.

EVERYTHING IS

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Weyenny

ADBUSTERS.ORG

ADBUSTERS Submitted
A poster from Adbusters’ Buy Nothing Day campaign.

Holiday cheer vs. consumerism

To give or
to get a gift

One business gives its
employees the choice to
receive a gift or donate to
a local charity

By SANDY POWLIK

ith Christmas just around the
Wier: one company is offering

their employees a choice be-
tween a gift or the equivalent value to
be given to a charity.

Companies like MEC which is known
for its charitable inclinations offers its
employees donation matching and en-
courages volunteering, but some em-
ployees would choose personal gifts
over donating to a charity.

“As a co-op, you definitely have that
spirit of giving back with our busi-
ness,” said MEC public affairs manag-
er, Tim Southam.

Southam said MEC does a lot of phi-
lanthropy and giving back and encour-
ages their employees to do the same.

One way the company is giving back
to the community is through commu-
nity grants, and the “1% for the Planet”
initiative where one per cent of annual
sales is donated the Canadian environ-
mental causes.

MEC also supports employee charity
by paying employees a day’s wage if
they volunteer at an organization that
is aligned with MEC’s values of “com-
munity, environment or sustainability.”

Southam said MEC has also matched
employee donations toward a cause
from time to time.

For example, after Typhoon Haiyan,
Southam said, “employees donated
$8,000 and MEC matched that.”

MEC employee Ellen Pratt said MEC
doesn’t do a special charity push at
Christmas.

She said MEC Vancouver donates
gear to different groups throughout
the year.

Specifically, unsold sleeping bags
are given to women’s shelters and foot-
wear and other gear are supplied to
North Shore Rescue Society for their
caches.

In a recent Ipsos-Reid survey, 51 per
cent of Canadian employees were said
to prefer a charitable gift given in their
name over a tangible gift for them-
selves at Christmas.

“T don’t believe we have the option to
do that or if we would do that,” said
Pratt. “I'd prefer to
donate time than

ist sending off Give hack
For Christmas this holiday

this year, MEC staff
will receive a $50
MEC gift card. Last
year staff got a
small gift instead,

1 Have a donation
box at your holiday

such as thermos party

bottles with the

MEC branding and 2 Volunteer at a soup
Merino wool kitchen
scarves specially

made for staff.

“We are a retail-
er, so it makes
sense to encourage
our employees to
either get a gift for 4
themselves
through one of our
stores or provide
them with a gift,”
said Southam.

3 Donate clothing that
you don't wear to
Salvation Army

Give blankets or
hats and gloves to
charities that help
those in need