Internet Starting To Takeover Holiday Season Shopping

In today's world, people use the Internet for practically everything. From shopping to doing business online, people spent 4 to 7 hours a day just browsing through online sites. Now retailers are taking advantage of this trend and offering promotions online, several days before the holidays start. Early online promotions are one way for retailers to better compete with their rivals. Due to economy, stores are unsure of how much people will spend this year, so early promotions are one way of sparking incentive to buy more for less.

My View:
These days, almost everything can be done online. So it's no surprise that people are going to want to use the Internet to buy things. Goods online are easily accessible, in stock, and easy to pay for. Black Friday can have one person waiting in line for hours, when online a shopping spree can take 30 minutes or less. By offering good deals and promotions, retailers are luring in more customers than ever. I think that by adding more promotions to online store websites, companies can make up to twice as much in revenue, especially around the holidays.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/-cyber-monday--gains-rivals.html

Black Friday Starting Early This Year

Right now, people are counting down the hours to when they can get in their cars and begin their shopping adventures. Stores are opening their doors earlier than usual so people can get their hands on the best deals as soon as possible. Stores even decided to open their doors on Thanksgiving Day, claiming that people have responded positively to this move. A site called MainStreet comprised a list of stores, such as Old Navy, Wal-Mart, Toys R'Us, Target, and the hours of when they will be open for Black Friday.

My View:
Stores are making a smart decision by announcing their store hours for Black Friday way before the holidays. This allows people to prepare their list of stores to visit and they can also see which stores are going to offer the best deals. Black Friday is already a hectic day for many American shoppers, so lists like the one made by MainStreet can really help guide people through their holiday shopping.


http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-ultimate-guide-to-black-friday-2011.html

Greyhound Bus Driver Abandons Passengers

When a Greyhound bus was set to drive to Missouri, the passengers on board did not know what kind of ride they were getting themselves into. The bus was 100 miles from its destination when the driver decided to suddenly stop and order a passenger off near Sikeston. The driver then pulled over in Cape Girardeau and refused to get on the bus. Passengers frantically called the police, who arrived shortly after and ordered the driver to take the bus to its destination. The bus pulled over again in Charleston and the bus drivers, once again, got up and this time, left for good. Passengers called the Greyhound Bus company and it sent one of its drivers over to the abandoned bus. When the bus finally arrived at its destination, the passenger's trip was 12 hours delayed. The company apologized and promised to refund the people for the inconvenience.

My View:
Even though it is unclear why the bus driver acted the way she did, but this clearly shows that Greyhound Bus does not do a good job in hiring suitable and responsible people for their job positions. This type of situation could tarnish a company's reputation and people might start to turn to other rival companies that they feel they could trust more. It was a smart move to refund the passengers, who had to endure this experience, so I think for now the company is going to be okay. In the near future, I think Greyhound Bus needs to conduct a better evaluation of its employees or carry out harsher consequences in case this type of situation happens again.

http://news.yahoo.com/greyhound-driver-strands-passengers-missouri-043514746.html

Victoria Secret's Slight Mistake With T-Shirt

Victoria Secret is known for its cute and comfortable clothing, along with catchy phrases on T-shirts, hoodies, sweatpants, and everything else they make. They are very popular for making clothing that represents college football teams. Recently they came out with a line representing Michigan State's football team, with the team's name on the front and the logo on the back. Except underneath the team's name is a phrase reading "Hail to the Victors". The only problem with that phrase is it is the motto of Michigan's rival team. Sports business reporter, Darrell Rovell, noticed this and announced it within a couple of hours after the T-shirt was launched on the company's site. The T-shirt was removed immediately after this mistake was revealed.

My View:
Everyone is bound to make mistakes and this is just one little mishap for Victoria Secret. The company is known for making millions off its Pink line and Victoria Secret line so one little mistake won't hurt the company nor its reputation. Everyone loves Victoria Secret's vibrant colors, comfortable attire, and catchy phrases on its products. It was smart of the company to immediately remove the T-shirt in order to salvage its reputation and avoid losing more money than it needs to.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Victoria-Secret-shirt-fails-Michigan-State-8217?urn=ncaaf-wp10226

Ban On Obscene Texts In Pakistan

Pakistan's telecommunications have recently decided to eliminate obscene words from texting messages by ordering phone call companies to block messages that contain inappropriate words. They also made a list stating all the words, mostly sexual or swear words, that ought to be blocked. Words such as Jesus Christ and tampon were banned as well, raising questions as to whether or not this tampers with religious freedom. Apparently, freedom of speech can be restricted "in the interest of the glory of Islam." This could be another act that was under the pressure of Islamists, which insisted the Pakistan block pornographic and Anti-Islamic sites.

My View:
It has always been in my knowledge that people in Pakistan do not have the same rights and freedoms as we do here, in the United States. So it's inevitable that their rules and regulations are going to be very different than those that we follow here. This blocking of obscene words from text messaging could either be accepted or people could resist against it. Texting is the most popular form of communication these days so this could infuriate some people. There's a possibility that people could end their phone contracts and stop using cellphones all together.

http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-bans-obscene-words-cell-phone-texts-122933488.html

PETA is a well-known organization that fights to protect the rights of animals all over the world. They have been known for aggressively fighting against things they see as being demeaning or cruel to animals. A recent controversy they have entered themselves in deals with the Nintendo game, Mario. PETA says the animal costume that Mario, the main character in the game, wears gives off the message that it is okay to wear fur. The raccoon-like suit is used to help Mario glide across the screen and this move has been incorporated into the game since 1988. Still PETA suggests it promotes animal abuse since the raccoon dogs are animals that are constantly beaten and skinned alive for their fur. So PETA has decided to offer their version of the game, in which players try to take back the suit from Mario.

My View:
Personally, I think PETA is taking the issue of animal abuse to an extreme. Mario has always been known as a fun and completely innocent game that is simply for the enjoyment of Nintendo lovers. No where in the game is direct abuse of animals being displayed. And the fact that the character in the game is wearing an animal-looking suit does not imply that anyone who sees this will immediately consider skinning and wearing animal fur. I think PETA takes certain topics too seriously and so far people have been criticizing the organization for being ridiculous and overly exaggerative.

http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/peta-slams-mario-over-fur-suit-211025773.html

Talk Of New Stadium Is Getting People Excited

Architects from Gensler and AEG have just released photos of what the new L.A. stadium will supposedly look like. People have been buzzing about the look the stadium, which has a very bright and "whimsical" feel to it. The stadium will hold 72,000 people and has a built in deployable roof, in case there are any bad weather days. The stadium is set to open itself to NFL games in 2016 and there's talk that the stadium will offer to host the 2017 Super Bowl L. Despite the fact that L.A. doesn't have professional football teams, it still might host games for the San Diego Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, and Jacksonville Jaguars. The plan hasn't been approved yet but it sure has been getting a lot of positive feedback, mostly because of its unique design.

My View:
Since L.A. is known for not having professional football teams, I don't understand why so much money and effort is going in to build a stadium that might not attract a large audience to begin with. This isn't a smart marketing move considering there aren't many football fans in L.A. Since the economy isn't in the best state right now, people are going to wonder why is so much money being built into a project like this. They might also wonder where is the money for this stadium coming from. One possible answer is from higher taxes. People might not be too pleased with this move and the plan for the stadium could end up as a failure. Also, traffic  LA is terrible so people might not be willing to stand in traffic for games they don't favor as much in the first place. 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Proposed-new-LA-stadium-is-translucent-and-whims?urn=nfl-wp11926