Monday, January 15, 2007
Martin Luther King Jr. holiday?
So what are you doing this Monday?
Chances are, you're at work. Even though Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an officially recognized federal holiday, many – if not most – businesses do not treat it as such. You’re not receiving mail and your children aren’t going to school, but in two out of three cases, you’re at work.
An odd holiday, that.
Even odder, points out Sarah Mahoney in MediaPost’s Marketing Daily, is the lack of commercial activity that surrounds many such holidays in the United States. There are Presidents’ Day sales, Memorial Day sales, Labor Day sales. Americans celebrate most major holidays with trips to the mall or to the car dealership. But not this one. “Stores,” writes Mahoney, “are loath to appear disrespectful or insensitive about the only holiday commemorating an African-American, and one with such a solemn legacy.”
Which leaves it even more of a non-holiday than ever.
What would happen if we embraced the third Monday in January with the same commercial zeal we exhibit the rest of the year? What if it were another sales opportunity, but with a twist: merchants could, for example, donate a percentage of their proceeds from the weekend to a worthy cause? What if for every 10 widgets sold, another inner-city child could go to summer camp?
Everyone would be happy. The post-Christmas sales slump would arc back up. The first cars of the year could be on the road. The American people would feel relieved that we could treat this holiday like any other.
And your boss might even give you the day off.
Chances are, you're at work. Even though Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an officially recognized federal holiday, many – if not most – businesses do not treat it as such. You’re not receiving mail and your children aren’t going to school, but in two out of three cases, you’re at work.
An odd holiday, that.
Even odder, points out Sarah Mahoney in MediaPost’s Marketing Daily, is the lack of commercial activity that surrounds many such holidays in the United States. There are Presidents’ Day sales, Memorial Day sales, Labor Day sales. Americans celebrate most major holidays with trips to the mall or to the car dealership. But not this one. “Stores,” writes Mahoney, “are loath to appear disrespectful or insensitive about the only holiday commemorating an African-American, and one with such a solemn legacy.”
Which leaves it even more of a non-holiday than ever.
What would happen if we embraced the third Monday in January with the same commercial zeal we exhibit the rest of the year? What if it were another sales opportunity, but with a twist: merchants could, for example, donate a percentage of their proceeds from the weekend to a worthy cause? What if for every 10 widgets sold, another inner-city child could go to summer camp?
Everyone would be happy. The post-Christmas sales slump would arc back up. The first cars of the year could be on the road. The American people would feel relieved that we could treat this holiday like any other.
And your boss might even give you the day off.
