MultiMedia Story

 Black Friday Shopping 

By: Luke Ardizzone 

 

Black Friday, known as the biggest shopping day of the year, has been a tradition in the U.S. for many years, and has become a yearly staple for many shoppers. While the holiday was able to continue this year, there definitely seemed to be something different about this year’s shopping day. 

Black Friday started as a chaotic way to deal with a mob of fans, and quickly turned to a crowded group of people looking to get the best deals, and while this “holiday” has become a yearly staple, the holiday has went through some changes because of Covid-19.

 

A Chaotic Beginning 

Black Friday is what the day after thanksgiving is called, where most stores all across America have large discounts on various items, and allowed shoppers to shop and receive huge savings, one day of the year.

The History of this day goes back to the 1950s, where police described the day after thanksgiving as black Friday as crowds of people would flood the streets in advance to the Army-Navy football game (History). Many of these people would storm the stores and shoplift, and the stores and police would have a difficult time stopping and controlling them.

Since the stores in Philadelphia were tired of being robbed, they decided to change their post-thanksgiving day policy, and change the term “black Friday” from a negative connotation to a positive connotation. The stores began offering big discounts on items in there store as to encourage the herd of people to shop the big deals instead of shoplifting, and it worked, and news about this day slowly spread across the country. Soon businesses all jumped in on this new “shopping holiday”, and the American people began to flood the stores every Friday after thanksgiving.

A Yearly Staple

As the years go on, many Americans all across the country still engage in Black Friday. Stores every year offer huge discounts on many items, and a lot of times customers will get up very early, or even wait overnight in order to get a head start on the deals. In some cases, shoppers have even gotten violent and have gotten in fights with other shoppers trying to buy a discounted product.

Whether it’s camping out the night before, or getting up at the crack of dawn, many people often have their own traditions. When talking to a shopper about their black Friday shopping they said, she said, “I’m not your typical black Friday shopper, but I am an avid black Friday shopper”. This shopper in particular said that she gets up around 8:00 am, but tries to get out of the stores by noon. When asked if she regularly shops on Black Friday she also said that, "I typically go, if I have some specific I'm looking for and if the price is right". 

While many shoppers flood the stores to check out the deals, some prepare in advance or at least scout out the deals. Another shopper went through their Black Friday process and had this to say, "I typically look on the internet to see what deals the stores are having, and I go to the stores to check out the ones I viewed online".

Most stores have extended Black Friday deals by starting earlier and continuing past actual black, but this still doesn't stop shoppers from getting up early. some of the notable times that people lined up for Black Friday deals was 1:30 am in Anderson, South Carolina. 

One other, and more recent trend that has also become a yearly staple for Black Friday is Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday is essentially like Black Friday, but with all of the discounts being online, and on the Monday following Thanksgiving. While this has been a more recent trend, its popularity is very high, and many storm websites like Amazon to get the amazing online deals. 

An Unusual Year 

Although the Covid-19 Lockdown may be over in America, and people are now leaving their houses, Black Friday and shopping in general does not look the same as it typically does. In the past years, while the online shopping presence was increasing, it was very popular to go and shop the big deals in person. However, when Covid-19 spread throughout 2020, online shopping became not only a thing of Black Friday, but a way to shop for everyday items. When Black Friday came around, it was only natural for people to still be cautious and continue online. 

While many shoppers decided to avoid the crowd of people and stick to shopping online. In 2021, as restrictions are slowly being lifted and people have become more comfortable leaving their homes to go out in stores.

However, even though the lockdown is over, many people are still hesitant and cautious to flood the stores and be exposed to large crowds of shoppers. However, in person shopping has gone up drastically. While not as many as 2019, 2021 has seen a resurgence in online shopping throughout the year and especially on Black Friday weekend. 

        Sources by: NYT, NRF, blackfriday.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

Black Friday History

History.com Black Friday

USAToday

 

Additional Stories:

Black Friday Sales were up, but reflected the challenges facing retailers

Black Friday brought shoppers back to stores

 

3-2-2-1 Assignment

Sealed copy of 'Super Mario Bros. 2' sells for $88,550 in estate sale

By: Luke Ardizzone


    A copy 1988 'Super Mario Bros. 2', recently sold at an auction for an astounding $88,500; the auction was a part of a real-estate sale for a recently deceased Indiana women.

    Harritt group inc. who was real-estate company, said their workers discovered the valuable game among other classic titles, that the late owner Patricia Martinn owned.

A Piece of Nostaligia

    The workers on the site were able to stumble across some Nintendo Entertainment System games in a walk-in closet. The Harritt group said, "At first glance, it was a comforting wave of classic Nintendo nostalgia. All the classics were there, Super Mario Bros, Duck Hunt, Qix, and even an NES console. So, we did what any children of the 1990s would do: we fired up the console and tested the open games.

    It was a great day," These titles were interesting items to find by themselves, but when they were quite surprised when discovered the copy 'Super Mario Bros. 2'."At a second glance, it was something else entirely. The seemingly ordinary collection included an extraordinary unopened copy of Super Mario Bros. 2."

A Surprising Value

    The group knew that they had stumbled upon omitting valuable, when they discovered the game. However, once the game was inspected by Watta Games in Denver, it was given a 9.8 A+ rating, and its value skyrocketed.

    The rating was the second-highest possible, and shortly after it sold for $88,500 to a Florida businessman. This was not the first Nintendo title to sell for a large amount. In fact, a 25-year-old sealed copy of 'Super Mario 64' sold for a record price of $1.56 million in July. 

One of Many

    While these Nintendo Mario titles are very valuable and have sol large amounts, Mario games are not the only classic Nintendo games to sell for large amounts. A 34-year-old unopened copy of 'Legend of Zelda' sold just before the 'Super Mario 64' for $870,000. Like the others, what made this copy worth so much money was the fact that the seal was in tact and that it was unopened.

    Legend of Zelda was also a very popular game like the others, and was first released in 1986. All of these games are considered retro, and as can be seen, that if they are sealed they are very valuable.

Additional Stories:

Vintage Super Mario Bros. Video Game Sells for $114K

80s Nintendo Game Sells for Over $600k

The Facebook Dilemma

     The Facebook dilemma all started with a student at Harvard University, Mark Zuckerburg, who wanted to. start a website where people on campus could "rate" girls on campus, but it ended up turning into so much more. Facebook was all about connecting people, it was about people being able to share their life and give people the opportunity to react and network with eachother. Mark Zuckerburgs philosophy was more about, "it was more important to get things done rather than doing things necessarily right like dotting eyes and crossing the Ts". However, this philosophy would ultimately get him in trouble. The full effect of Facebook was seen in full force when political activist used the website to get the people of egypt to start a revolution, and ultimately get their president to resign. This was a sort of breakthrough, and everyone including Mark Zuckerburg could not see the power and influence that Facebook had. This was what Mark had wanted as his goal was for world wide expansion, and at this point, this is what was happening with the site. The original approach to Facebook was more of a Libertarian style, where basically anyone could post anything, and the users of the website would police the site. However, as Facebook grew more and more, and as Mark Zuckerburg was becoming more and more focused on "growth and expansion", that is where things took a turn. Facebook was not clear to users of how they would be using their data, and would sneak privacy things into their terms that would go unnoticed. Facebook became a sort of violation of privacy as they began data mining, and using people's personal information and data for all sorts of purposes such as, personalized ads, and selling information, and sneaky things like that. This would ultimately get Mark Zuckerburg in trouble, when he had to go on trial for data mining. Facebook however, and many other online platforms, and social media outlets would still use peoples private information, and violate people's privacy by adding things into their terms, and just using their data. Overall, it is scary of how much personal information is used by Facebook, and many other online platforms, and it is important to monitor your online presence, and use discernment while on the internet.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/facebook-dilemma/

https://www.security.org/resources/data-tech-companies-have/

Politicization of Coronavirus

     As the country had moved forward with dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, it seems that the virus has become much more political than anything. Many of the more left states and democrats are keeping their states on lockdown and are pushing more more stricter covid restrictions while the right and republicans are pushing for the opposite and want less restrictions and fewer guidelines. However, the question is, why is this the case with this situation. The main reason I believe for this divide of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is because of the restrictions. Republicans want more freedom, and want the American people to be able to choose, while the Democratic Party wants everyone to follow the mandates completely and stay inside, and wear masks. With these restrictions however, a lot of small businesses are suffering, and it is important a lot of Republicans that these small businesses stay alive and thrive for the better of our economy The divide is also a result of parties disagreeing with how the pandemic was initially handled. Many Democrats argue that the pandemic was poorly handled in the first place. However, as of now in the country it has come down to Republicans and a lot of Americans having enough of being locked in and afraid, and many states have already begun to lift their covid restrictions. Ultimately we will see the results of these ending of mandates, but these states that are opening up have seen a significant drop in cases and they were already looser on the mandates. Overall, this politicization comes down to One party wanting more restrictions, and the other party wanting the choice to choose, and loosen up the restrictions, and try and get small businesses, and the economy back on track. 

https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/how-origins-covid-19-became-politicized

My Online Prescence

     I feel like overall I have a normal or medium sized online footprint. I have only recently gotten social media, and I don't have any personal websites besides my blogger account. The Social Media sites that I have are Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, and Tok Tok. I have given them my first and last name, birthday, phone number, email, and then I have HPU 24' in my bio on instagram. But those are usually the basic requirements for every website when you are making an account. Visitors could see that I am a freshmen in college at HPU, and that I graduated from CDS high school. They also can look up my name on google and see my football highlights and stats from high school which are all still there, as well as from golf, and cross country. However, with other sites I have put even more sensitive information such, as my debit card for online shopping with home address and signature, and even my social security number for online brockerage firm for investing in the stock market. However I do trust my SSN with that company, but thinking back at it, there are probably some websites that I have purchased things off of that have my debit card that are fine, but probably down have the safest website to protect my data. Overall, I do think social media could make people lonely as it paints a fake and unrealistic picture for how others around you live their life. This constant view of other people's seemingly perfect lives can make people feel lonely or feel like they are doing something wrong which is not true or accurate. I think that a lot of people treat their online and social media life like their real life more than their actual real life. That kind of lifestyle and mentality is not healthy though, people are getting too sucked into the digital world, and should focus on the real world. I need to work on this too, I'll admit that I fall under this category of becoming too invested in the online world, however I do think I'm getting better at it. Recently, I have stopped using Snapchat as much, and only look at Instagram for more sports news and highlights. However, I would like to limit my online presence. I do think that one main problem is unnecessary or useless applications. For example, on Snapchat there is things called "streaks" where it is how many days in a row that you have sent a picture or "snap" to another person. However, these are pointless because it's just people, sometimes not even friends, just sending pictures back and forth to keep a number or streak without any conversation or purpose. However, I have noticed that people more my age have realized this, and are stopping this trend, as I believe it is one of more pointless and useless trends on social media. I would say that I have been rather careful putting sensitive information on any social media, I don't put anything on any social media or online that I wouldn't want future employers or people to see. Social media is a real addiction in our society, and I would honestly say that I fall under that, as I don't go a day without looking at some type of social media, I think last year I was really addicted, but as I've gotten a little older and learned more, I have gotten better about my overall usage. I also feel like with regards to the videos that one about the dark side of ones online presence is more accurate, as I have become very surprised at what companies do with certain information, and how much of our information online is not as safe or as hidden as we think it is. Having even just gone through this course, I know a lot more about online privacy, and I had never really thought about my online presence or the information that I was putting on the internet. I am now going to be a lot more careful and aware of all of this information. 

https://www.instagram.com

Instagram: lukeardizzone14

https://www.facebook.com

Online Privacy

     Online privacy has become a big thing in our society. It has become a much more popular topic with instances like Facebook's data mining scandal. This has been a big issue as of recent with Adhesion contracts, Data mining, terms and conditions, and many other things that are involved with our phones apps, and big companies. Its kind of scary having watched one of those ted talks of how much your information stays on the internet, and that even if you think your information has been erased, deleted, or removed, it is still there like a "digital tattoo". Its also pretty scary to see how much detail about you can be tracked, like how much detail the police go into about and with your personal information, and how they know way more then you think they know. Its also very scary to see things like "Revenge porn" or "digital domestic violence" where an ex-partner can use photos and messages form ur relationship to humiliate you or blackmail you. In our society we should aim to move towards more privacy focused initiatives and be careful and aware of our online presence and privacy as it is constantly being violated. Every time we put in our face or our thumbprint into our phone, that just gives the government records, DNA, and information on it. Every time we roll past those terms and conditions without reading and just press accept, we give those companies an opportunity to use our data in a way that we probably wouldn't want otherwise. Overall, it is important to monitor and pay attention to your online privacy presence. 

https://embed.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_how_to_think_about_digital_tattoos

https://hls.ted.com/talks/2149.m3u8?preroll=newshortintro_053119&qr

https://embed.ted.com/talks/christopher_soghoian_a_brief_history_of_phone_wiretapping_and_how_to_avoid_it

https://embed.ted.com/talks/darieth_chisolm_let_s_call_revenge_porn_what_it_is_digital_domestic_violence

Diffusion Theory, and the Social Media spectrum

     Social Media is becoming a vastly large part of our society. Many people in America or around the world usually use at least one source of social media, whether that be Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. . Some people were quick to adopt the new trend of social media while were a little late or decided to stay off social media altogether. I think it predominantly has to do with the generation, as well as peoples values and thought process. For example, with my generation, you rarely see someone in high school or college without any social media, and this is predominately because social media is our primary source of communication and entertainment. This also is dependent on the platform, as college and high school students are more likely to use snapchat than adults, as this is one of our primary forms of communication with eachother. I think that some people were late adopters primarily because they either didn't know how to use it, or were hesitant to get on social media. While the people who don't use social media at all I think don't use it because of perfectly warranted privacy concerns, or just don't like social media and seeing constant flow of pictures and media, and just like to lay low on the grid. Age does have a big play in this, as most adults stick to Facebook and Twitter as Facebook is an older platform that has been around longer, and many adults used it when it first came out, and twitter is more discussions and news. Overall I think that there is a lot of factors that go into why certain people do or don't use social media, it primarily has to do with age, values, and lifestyle, and people use certain social media accordingly or don't use it at all. This article below actually gives an interesting perspective to what type of social media users their are out there, and categorizes it into certain groups. For the most part I think it is accurate, and is interesting to see. 

https://topdogsocialmedia.com/10-types-of-social-media-users/

Vertical Integration

     Vertical Integration is when a Media corporation or company owns different businesses and companies that are all in the same chain of production and distribution. Every prominent tv production or streaming service you see today is all a chain of production, owned and produced by a much larger corporation. Ultimately, almost all of media is owner and run through 6 large corporations: Comcast, Newscorp, Disney, Viacom, Warner Bros, and CBS. In fact, these “companies control a staggering 90% of what we read, watch or listen to” (mattdgp). 

    “When a company expands its business into areas that are at different points on the same production path” (AS Media), such as when a manufacturer owns its supplier and/or distributor they control the market for that thing. “Vertical integration can help companies reduce costs and improve efficiency by decreasing transportation expenses and reducing turnaround time, among other advantages” (AS Media) such as companies not having to rely on suppliers, which ultimately reduces costs. It also leads to a boost in the economoy, however this results in more expensive and less cost efficient things for the consumer, because companies can run up and make prices in media however they want. With streaming services, they can just increase the cost per month whenever they want, and force people to either leav or pay more. A lot of times they own other streaming services though, whoch can make things bad/complicated for the consumer.  

    One of the more prominent examples of Vertical Integration in television is 20^th Century fox which produces its own tv shows and movies, but also has its own subdivion of channels, such as: FX, FXM, and FXX which are affiliated by the Fox Broadcasting channel. Another good example is Warner Bros. who owns Time Warner who has subdivisions through it such as HBO and the CW, and the rights to DC.

    One way that these big companies benefit from it, especially with today’s streaming services is the moving of movie productions to an individual service, that is ultimately owned by the same corporation. Especially recently, many companies are pulling tv shows and movies of Netflix and are using it to start their own or adding it to their own streaming services. This allows companies to charge consumers more money to buy a another streaming service to watch a program that was previously available on a different platform.

    This has a bigger impact than just streaming services too, for example, if Disney were to have a scandle or something of the sorts, or a big hit or production. They control the news coverage of ABC since it is a chain and production owned by Disney. This can be dangerous, as bigger coprorations like this can censor the consumer from what they don’t want them to see, and push forward with a potential agenda or bias that they want people to see, or Newscorp for example that owns Fox, the New York post, and the Wall Street journal, can control an entire news cycle through 3 massive News companies that are big part of the news cycle. 

    Overall, it is important to understand Vertical Integration, as almost all of the media consumed today is run through this. There are 6 main corporations that own almost all media, and therefore control what media is being put out there for the consumer. It is very important to realize this, and not always rely on the big company and corporation for media. 

 

https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-vertical-integration-3305807

https://www.ghjadvisors.com/blog/vertical-integration-in-the-entertainment-industry-and-its-impact-on-profit-participations

https://mpwasmedia.wordpress.com/vertical-integration/

The Internet

     The first prototype of the internet was made in the late 1960s and was originally called ARPANET. this was a project developed and created by the department of defense. There are a lot of things that we take for granted today that we owe to the internet. For example, without the internet we wouldn't have GPS, we would have any mobile cellular devices, and paper would be the primary and a very common thing used in the workplace. The internet has also provided a gateway to many huge things in society today, like google, and social media which at this point have pretty much taken over and are the focal point of our society. It has allowed people from everywhere to have easy access to almost any piece of information within just a couple of seconds/minutes. The internet has also pretty much made paper irrelevant, it is still used a lot today in society, but the impact and need for paper is no long present due to the birth of the internet. The biggest companies in the world are as a result from the internet. Jeff Besos who goes back and forth as the richest man in the world made his money by the creation of amazon, which is online shopping. Going off of that, online shopping has become an enormous part of our society and daily life, and has made it so going to the actual store is no longer needed, but. rather you can browse many options, order online, and have it delivered right to your door. Overall, the internet is responsible for how our life and society is today, and the impact will continue to grow as it is constantly evolving. 

https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/articles/the-impact-of-the-internet-on-society-a-global-perspective/

https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/articles/internet-changed-everyday-life/

https://www.technologyreview.com/2014/09/08/171458/the-impact-of-the-internet-on-society-a-global-perspective