Thursday, November 27, 2014

Give Thanks

Hopefully everyone is in a turkey coma, surrounded by friends and family enjoying a day where we can all sit back and give thanks for the things we have in life.

There are 364 other days in the year where we can stress about the things we have to do, stress about the things we need or want and go run around trying to finish all the things we want to accomplish in life, but this day of Thanksgiving is a great day to just stop for a moment, reflect on where we are, who we are and all the blessings we've been given in life.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.



(found this awesome pic posted by someone on twitter)

Thanksgiving Football

Don't forget to tune in and root for your favorite football team while you're chowing down on some pumpkin pie:


Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions - 12:30 PM on CBS


Philadelphia Eagles vs. Dallas Cowboys - 4:30 PM on Fox


Seattle Seahawks vs. San Francisco 49ers 8:30 PM on NBC

And if you're up early making your turkey dinners, turn on the parades!

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Thanksgiving in Space!


Just because you're floating around in a space station 250 miles above the earth doesn't mean you can't enjoy a nice Thanksgiving dinner, right?



The astronauts on the International Space Station are going to have a little meal tomorrow to celebrate what they are thankful for. (My thoughts... oxygen maybe?)

American astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore, Terry Virts and Italian Samantha Cristoforetti are going will celebrate Turkey day in zero-g.

Check out the video from space.com:



From over at: space.com - Thanksgiving in Zero-G: Space Station Astronauts Enjoy 'Traditional' Dishes

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

See? Just trace your feathers like this and you've drawn a person!

Only two more days until Thanksgiving!

Hopefully everyone is enjoying the season of giving thanks.

And on Thanksgiving day, please remember that if you go shopping on that day, someone has to work that day and can't be at home with their family.

On the lighter side, here's a few funny comics we've seen floating around facebook!


Cartoon text:
See? Just trace your feathers like this and you've drawn a person!
Artist over at: speedbump.com



Cartoon text:
What's for dinner this year? If I told you that, I'd have to kill you.
Artist over at: bizarro.com

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Respect The Turkey Tweets!

Some great tweets out there right now under the #RespectTheTurkey hashtag!

Andy Lasselle@AndySnacks
Can we put a moratorium on Xmas talk until Friday, November 28th please? #RespectTheTurkey


American Greetings@amgreetings
Are you frantically researching turkey recipes or already blasting "Jingle Bells?" Tell us if you #RespectTheTurkey!


Jen Snyder@jensnyder
This is not acceptable. It's been like this since Halloween. #RespectTheTurkey


Suzanne Sanderson@suzpeeps
Starting a movement!!! Who's with me?? #RespectTheTurkey


We agree! Tweet Tweet! I mean... Gobble Gobble!

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Boycott Black Thursday

Another site has come along to join the cause for the fight to take back Thanksgiving!

Every voice counts!

Check out their facebook page over at facebook.com/boycottblackthursday

Monday, November 10, 2014

For every Christmas light lit before Thanksgiving

For every christmas light lit before thanksgiving an elf kills a baby reindeer

Cartoon text:
For every christmas light lit before thanksgiving An elf kills a baby reindeer

Thanks to J&D for this one.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Too Early for Christmas Music!

Some radio stations have already made the switch to Christmas music, with three weeks left still until Thanksgiving.

Writer Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk (twitter @ArtsWriter) has an article over on mlive:

MLive.com - Too early for Christmas music on the radio? Readers, listeners sound off

Some comments from a person featured in the article:
"This ruins the joy Christmas brings," ... "By the time Christmas is here the wonder and joy of the sounds of the season has already lost its magic and it becomes annoying. I will NOT be listening to these stations so I can enjoy the season when it gets here."

Writer Cort Gatliffin has an article over at yellowhammernews.com:

yellowhammernews.com - (Vote) When is it acceptable to start listening to Christmas music?


Some of his readers sounded off with comments like these:

Christmas music simply can’t be appreciated appropriately before Thanksgiving,” ... “That’s just the way it is.


The poll on the article asks: When is it acceptable to start listening to Christmas music?
Results:

November 1 - 30.1%
December 1 - 10.0%
After Thanksgiving - 52.1%
All year - 7.8%

There's nothing wrong with Christmas music really.
It's wonderful music, and honestly if you love it and want to listen to it all year go for it.

But when everyone suddenly kicks off the Christmas music right after Halloween, the message is that we'd rather skip the season of Giving Thanks.

Respect The Turkey!

Friday, November 7, 2014

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Stores Closed on Thanksgiving

Quite a few stores are now joining the march to stay closed on Thanksgiving!

Thanks to some successful facebook campaigns like Say No To Shopping on Thanksgiving and the popular pledge badge that's been going around, stores are starting to listen!



Great to see such a community supporting the retail workers and helping them get a well deserved day off.

Over at Forbes they are compiling a running list:

Forbes: Costco, Publix Lead Charge As Stores Refuse To Open On Thanksgiving Day

Here's the list from the Forbes article. Respect the Turkey! :)

American Girl
Barnes & Noble
Bed
Bath and Beyond
BJ’s Wholesale Club
Burlington Coat Factory
Costco
Crate & Barrel
Dillard’s
DSW
GameStop
Hobby Lobby
HomeGoods
Home Depot
Jo Ann Fabrics
Lowe’s
Marshalls
Nordstrom
Petco
Pier 1
Publix
RadioShack
Sam’s Club
Sur La Table
Talbots
T.J. Maxx

Monday, October 13, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

Monday, October 13th is Canada's day of Thanksgiving.

Their Thanksgiving is very similar to ours, with big dinners and watching football on TV, just any day through the weekend.

It falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the US.

Writer Zoe Mintz of the IBTimes has a great write up of some of the differences between America's and Canada's Turkey Day.



Our favorite part?
However, unlike American Thanksgiving, Canadians don't typically see the holiday as a kickoff event to Christmas shopping.

Read the full article over at ibtimes: Canadian Thanksgiving 2014: 3 Ways The Holiday Differs From America’s Turkey Day.

You can find Zoe Mintz on Twitter at @ZoeMintz and as always we're at @RespectTurkey

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Thanskgiving Movies

This upcoming Thanksgiving you'll probably see mostly Christmas movies on the TV already, but there are some good movies out there about Thanksgiving time!

John R. Kennedy over at Global News writes:
To get into the spirit of the holiday, we’ve cooked up a list of 10 movies and TV specials set during Thanksgiving. They’re not all great movies (you mean some are turkeys? – ed.) but they’re bound to resonate with anyone spending time with relatives and pumpkin pies.
Our favorites: Free Birds, and of course Charlie Brown's Thanskgiving.


Head over to globalnews.ca to read the full story: 10 movies and specials to watch this Thanksgiving

You can follow John R. Kennedy on twitter at @GlobalJRK and as always we're at @RespectTurkey.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Christmas coming earlier: More retailers now count season's length in months, not weeks

Over at the Omaha World Herald, writer Barbara Soderlin has yet another article in the news about stores opening earlier this year.


(from: omaha.com - Christmas coming earlier: More retailers now count season's length in months, not weeks

Probably the best line from the article:
What’s creepier than all the Halloween masks on display?

The “Christmas creep” shoppers will see as holiday promotions and sales arrive in stores even earlier this year.
(from: omaha.com - Christmas coming earlier: More retailers now count season's length in months, not weeks

Read the rest of Barbara's article here.

You can follow her on Twitter at @barbarasoderlin, and as always we're at @respectturkey.

Monday, October 6, 2014

WSJ: Expect Retailers to Open Even Earlier This Thanksgiving

Andria Cheng at the Wall Street Journal wrote up an article about how retailers are expected to be open for a full day of shopping on Thanksgiving Day.

While retailers aren’t expected to announce any special Thanksgiving hours until the second half of October or into November, “it’s inevitable to see them open all day or even earlier than last year,” Joel Bines, managing director and co-leader of consulting firm AlixPartners’ retail practice, said in an interview.
(from: WSJ: Expect Retailers to Open Even Earlier This Thanksgiving)

Even though retailers are planning to make people work on Thanksgiving Day, it may not even do much to boost their sales.

To be sure, opening early on Thanksgiving may do little more than ruin employees’ turkey feasts.

Last year, retailers from Wal-Mart and Best Buy to Macy's and J.C. Penney opened stores or kicked off sales events earlier on Thanksgiving. Still, record Black Friday weekend sales didn’t salvage what turned out to be a disappointing holiday season.

“With the soft sales outlook, we do anticipate a few earlier openings” on Thanksgiving, or even a few more all-day openings, Mr. Johnson of Customer Growth said. “However, there is a law of diminishing returns,” and stores risk cannibalizing their December sales.
(from: WSJ: Expect Retailers to Open Even Earlier This Thanksgiving)

So even though some retailers will admit that shopping on Thanksgiving doesn't help their sales, and shopping too early can actually harm their December sales, they're all going to go through with it.

You can follow Andria Cheng on Twitter at: @andriacheng and as always we're at @respectturkey

Friday, October 3, 2014

The Buzz: Leave Thanksgiving alone

Maureen Wallenfang wrote up a great article with results from a survey her readers responding to a poll she started about people shopping on Thanksgiving.

Her question was:
"What do you think about stores being open all day on Thanksgiving?

Are you in the camp that enjoys the longer opportunity to shop and take advantage of deals and doorbusters? Or will you forgo the lure of big savings to preserve the holiday and take a stand for retail employees who will lose the holiday altogether?"
(from: postcrescent.com - The Buzz: Leave Thanksgiving alone)

Over 400 readers responded, and all but a few were against stores being open on Thanksgiving.

Readers had comments such as:
"If people can't get enough shopping done in 12 hours a day, seven days a week, outside of those holidays, there's something wrong with them."

"Asking employees to work crazy hours when they traditionally have been sleeping, enjoying the company of family, attending religious services, etc. is something that makes me avoid some local businesses,"

"What's the point of giving thanks for everything, if all we're after is more stuff?"
(from: postcrescent.com - The Buzz: Leave Thanksgiving alone)

More people out there shouting the message clearly to stores, Respect The Turkey!

You can follow Maureen Wallenfang on Twitter at: @wallenfang and as always we're at @respectturkey

Monday, September 15, 2014

Kohls Christmas 101

Only 101 shopping days until Christmas!

I'm really not sure Kohls ever takes their decorations down.


To be fair they did have some Halloween and Thanksgiving things there, they were just mixed in with all the normal stuff.


Tuesday, September 9, 2014

GeekDad - #NoEarlyXmas – Let’s Put Christmas in Its Place


Just saw a great post from a like minded individual about putting Christmas in it's place.

What do you say, people? Are you with me? Shall we start a social media campaign with #NOEARLYXMAS aimed at spreading this idea and pushing back at the retailers. They’re not doing wrong – they’re just following the money. We’re in control, with our wallets and our message. If we use those to change the behavior, the stores will follow. I hope.


Great article, and we're on board! #NoEarlyXMas and #RespectTheTurkey!

Read the full article here: GeekDad.com - #NoEarlyXmas – Let’s Put Christmas in Its Place

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

And here we go again


Usually we don't fire the Respect The Turkey machine until at least a few weeks into September, but it looks like some stores are already firing up their merchandising machines to fight for our dollars.

wcjl WCJL in Savannah, GA has a report of a bunch of stores with their gear already out:
Christmas in September? Some stores already selling holiday decorations

As a reminder, here at RTT we're not against Christmas.
Not at all!
We just feel like businesses are disrespecting other holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving, who are almost being wiped off the calendar.

The stores don't put the Christmas things out because they love the Christmas holiday and spreading joy.
They put them out because they are begging and pushing for people to spend more and more money.

People keep pushing the numbers about how much money Americans spend on Christmas shopping.

But really, if you start shopping months and months earlier isn't it just... shopping?