Memorial Day is a holiday designated to the remember those who served this country to protect the rights we Americans hold dear. According to usmemorialday.org over two dozen cities claim to be the birth place of Memorial Day, but its’ roots ultimately rest in Waterloo N.Y. declared by Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, but no one really knows the true birth place of this American holiday.
The once pure holiday given to Americans to remember their loved ones has turned into a summer time Black Friday sale. People spend more time in lines and online trying to find great sales as illustrated in Huffingtonpost story about how people will be spending their time.
Memorial Day was meant to remember true American heroes such as Chris Kyle and Marcus Luttrell who have recently had major box office hits written about their lives and how they served this country.
One of the strategies used to help promote Memorial Day sales is Discount strategy, This allows retailers to move dead product, market penetration, reward your loyal customers and gain advantage over your competition. Capitalist greed has overshadowed Memorial Day and companies have used advertisement methods to achieve monetary goals. Large “Patriotic” sales signs litter businesses weeks before Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day commercials plague TV stations and the radio, in attempt to persuade the public that they need to go out, spend money, and buy a washing machine or mattress instead of honoring the fallen warriors or America.
Perhaps it’s time to get back to the root of what Memorial Day is really about and promote events that honor those killed in war.
-Spencer Brenes, James Cronberger, Jill Jardine.
IMC Hawks Blog 
This post is an eye opener for me. I see/ hear the advertisements and coupons everywhere yet was oblivious to the issue discussed. I come from a military family, but whenever I think of Memorial Day the first thing that comes to my mind is “big sales at the department stores.” That is a sad thing to admit. The importance of this day should be honoring those who have given their life serving this country, not minimizing the day by seeing what deals we can get at Khols or JCPenny.