Respect the bird: The push to protect Thanksgiving from Christmas assault
Nov 14, 2011, 12:15 PM | Updated: 1:16 pm
It it seems like Christmas came even earlier this year, you’re not imagining it. But as retailers start the holiday shopping season before the leaves have even turned, a backlash is building in an effort to save Thanksgiving and “respect the bird.”
Doug Mathews coined the term last fall when he went into a store and saw the Christmas displays were up “before the Halloween candy was even on sale.”
“I just got frustrated. I’m a Thanksgiving fan and I wrote a blog about ‘respect the bird,’ and the response was overwhelming and almost instantaneous.”
The post by the New Jersey-based insurance executive and food fan went viral on Seattle’s All Recipes.com and around the web. Mathews says he was surprised by the number of people who felt as strongly as he did.
“I mean people were going from ‘trick or treat’ to ‘ho ho ho’ without thinking about this time that we have that really is a time where we can get together and it’s more about family and being grateful for the things we have,” Mathews says.
Target employees couldn’t agree more. A group of them has launched a petition asking the retailer not to open at midnight on Thanksgiving as planned and instead, wait until the traditional Black Friday early morning opening.
More than 47,000 have signed on at Change.Org. Petition creator Anthony Hardwick writes:
“By opening the doors at midnight, Target is requiring team members to be in the store by 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. A full holiday with family is not just for the elite of this nation — all Americans should be able to break bread with loved ones and get a good night’s rest on Thanksgiving.”
The ‘Respect The Bird’ movement continues gaining followers. This year, All Recipes has launched a website, Facebook and Twitter pages dedicated to saving Thanksgiving from an early assault by Santa.
“It’s almost like Christmas is trying to occupy Thanksgiving,” Mathews jokes.
