This is adapted from Plugged In, TNW’s bi-weekly newsletter on gear and gadgets. Subscribe to it (and our other great newsletters) here .
Plugged In is hot, sticky, and covered in paper. Why? It’s gift guide season, baby.
Let’s get something clear: I know I’m publishing this just after Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) , but this isn’t about Black Friday (and Cyber Monday), and that’s because Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) are crimes against humanity.
Listen, I’ve got nothing against deals, or people trying to get something for cheap. No, my issue with Black Friday is with the companies themselves
(Side note: anyone who posts on social media mocking people who queue up for discounts on Black Friday are pond scum — those folks are just trying to save some cash. Life’s fucking hard enough as it is without being a dick. How about a long, hard look at yourself before judging anyone else? Knobhead.)
Most organizations either use the… holiday? event? cursed period?… to get rid of old shit filling up their warehouses, or simply create fake discounts by raising the prices or products in the prior weeks and then lowering them again when it’s actually Black Friday.
And because the media sector is cash strapped and struggling to stay afloat, a lot of publications have to play along to some degree. It’s a sad state of affairs.
So no, Black Friday isn’t for me. But the things we see around the same time? The gift guides? Those sweet lists of badass stuff? Print them off, wrap me in them, set me aflame, and push me to Valhalla.
