Media in the New Millennium

posted by Doyle

The trampling death of Wal-Mart employee Jdimytai Damour on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the kick-off of the holiday shopping season, is a tragedy. There needs to be an investigation as to whether there were adequate safety procedures and security in place. Authorities need to continue to review security video to try and find the individuals in the bargain-hunting mob who are responsible.

And the attorneys that concocted the lawsuit that alleges Wal-Mart advertising contributed to the death because they “engaged in specific marketing and advertising techniques to specifically attract a large crowd and create an environment of frenzy and mayhem” should have their heads examined. If advertising was that effective, there would be no recession and no retail downturn. After all, we’re just a bunch of mindless zombies all too anxious to stampede at the first mention of the word “sale” on television, right? We know better, we just can’t help ourselves!

Give me a break.

While I must admit I was pretty surprised at people willing to line up the night before (as we saw at Boulder’s new Best Buy), the “advertising devil” didn’t make ‘em do it. They saw an offer and made a decision. When I was in college (and had more time, fewer responsibilities and required less sleep) I sometimes waited out all night for concert tickets to get the best possible seats. The ads didn’t say “start lining up at 6 p.m. the day before” and even if they did, even then, I could think for myself.

So could these people. They chose to act like complete imbeciles and it cost a fellow human his life. That’s very sad.

But it’s not the commercial’s fault. Period.

Did Wal-Mart want lots of people to come shop there? Of course they did. Did the ads possibly say “get there early to for the best deals?” Possibly, as many retailers make such statements. Even if the ads did say “to hell with everyone, scratch, claw and shove your way in. Heck, bring a weapon if you’d like!” I’d like to believe the majority of the herd would still act in a civilized manner.

The result of such foolishness is, sadly, simply more foolishness. In addition to truly addressing the issue — with the actual, appropriate physical steps needed to try to stop such a tragedy in the future — more money will be spent developing disclaimers to run at the bottom of sale ads reminding people that “this ad does not encourage or condone trampling our employees to death.” Think I’m kidding? I’ll take bets there are meetings happening right now discussing the language.

This is a tragedy, and everyone invovled needs to do everything in their power to ensure it’s not repeated, and if the perpetrators can be identified, they need to be punished. To simply start digging up garbage for a lawsuit in an attempt to ensure Wal-Mart’s payout is a large as possible is an insult.

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