One of the more welcome aspects of Martin Luther King’s Birthday was the way it went unmentioned yesterday in some places. Those places are called stores.
Oh, they had their holiday bargains, all right, trumpeted in advertisements as “weekend sales” and even “super weekend sales.” But the hucksters stopped well short of invoking Dr. King’s name to clear their shelves of appliances and the latest microchipped gizmos. Thankfully, no King Day “white sale” was to be found, at least not to our knowledge.
Perhaps the closest that any business came to breaking the pattern was a chain store specializing in mattresses. On Friday, it placed a newspaper advertisement offering reduced prices “now thru Martin Luther King Day.” The ad cried out to shoppers in large type: “Sleep like a ‘king’ for the price of a ‘queen.’ ”
Was the wording an innocent description of mattress sizes? Or was it, rather, a coy play on the name of the murdered civil rights leader? Hard to tell. How does that phrase go? We report, you decide.
For the most part, the day set aside to commemorate Dr. King’s birthday has remained remarkably resistant to commercial intrusion.Continue reading the main story
That, some may say, is because it is intended as a day of reflection. But then, so are many of our other national holidays — created to honor our war dead, reaffirm our founding principles or give thanks for what we have. Yet almost every major holiday, be it Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day — not to mention the granddaddy of all commercial days, the secularized Christmas — is regarded by many Americans as mainly an opportunity to shop.
How is it that King Day has escaped the clutches of commerce?
Part of the answer may simply be that the holiday is young. It has been observed at the federal level only since 1986. Also, Dr. King remains a vivid figure in the minds of Americans who were more than young children when he was assassinated in 1968. Indeed, not until early spring will he have been dead longer than he was alive: 39 years and 80 days.
“As opposed to other holidays, it commemorates someone who died a violent death in living memory,” said Marc E. Babej, a partner at Reason Inc. in New York, a marketing strategy firm. “To commercialize it would offend a lot of people, and rightly so.”
Others say that the holiday is a tribute not only to the man but also to the civil rights movement. “The honoring of him is the honoring of an effort that is still a work in progress,” said Thomas Ordahl, a partner at Group 1066, a corporate identity consultant in New York. “By having a sale, you’re impugning the entire movement.” African-Americans, in particular, may feel that “the sanctity of the day” has been violated, he said.
On a less lofty level, another factor may be at work: King Day closely follows the Christmas and New Year shopping frenzy. By mid-January, retailers “are probably a little fatigued,” said Michael Megalli, another partner at Group 1066. “Martin Luther King,” Mr. Megalli said, “would be happy, I think, that he’s been shielded from all the commercialization.”
HE is not, however, shielded from the politics.
As usual, the governor, the mayor and other leading officials spoke yesterday at the city’s premier King Day event, a commemoration held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. As usual, they offered words of praise for Dr. King and his legacy. But also as usual, they devoted many more words to themselves — to their own records and their plans for education, housing, criminal justice and other areas deemed of special concern to the largely African-American audience.
Then, as usual, these officials went to Harlem to speak or to be seen at the headquarters of the Rev. Al Sharpton, who regards homage to him on King Day as his seigniorage.
As usual, too, businesspeople knew enough to give the King name a rest. Whether this will always be the case is another matter.
The marketing experts say that 50 or more years from now, when the generations that remember Dr. King are gone, commerce may well infect King Day as it has other national holidays.
“Hopefully in 50 years, the civil rights movement will have accomplished its purpose,” Mr. Ordahl said.
Fair enough. Still, would anyone be shocked if, one day in the far future, a company sells its mattresses as perfect for a good night’s sleep, using as its slogan “I have a dream”?Continue reading the main story