Ithaca Blog

Friday, September 29, 2006

(Ironic) Award to K-Mart

Usually at Ithaca Blog we shun irony and feckless negativity, as a matter of policy and aesthetics. But a sight at a K-Mart this morning requires a little of these, with an award to K-Mart for rampant, crass holiday commercialism.

Which holiday? Halloween? No, although it is a sad fact that Halloween has turned from a creative, pleasantly anarchistic day into the second-highest holiday for consumer spending - after, of course, Christmas.

And Christmas is the holiday we're talking about here. Walk into K-Mart, and the display that greets you in their doorway is: Christmas trees. Artificial (of course) Christmas trees. $300 artificial Christmas trees.

On September 29. Summer ended one week ago. Hooray! Christmastime is here!

Congratulations, K-Mart, on stirring up our latent cynicism on commercial crassness with this bold display. Our Christmas wish for you, at the beginning of your personal Christmas season one week into autumn, is a good, long spell of 90 degree weather.

Only three shopping months left!

Stephen Burke
for Ithaca Blog

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