Let’s Be Honest, Wal Mart Washed Our Brains

Wal Mart ($WMT) did not invent America’s gluttony.  That saga goes back to the post World War II era, and if you want to get really macro about it, you might say that humans are predisposed, given the right circumstances, to over consumption.

And they didn’t set out to wash our brains. When $WMT began running the Black Friday 5AM Brain Buster Sale some years ago, their intentions were honorable enough in the capitalist sense. They were just trying to destroy smaller competitors proximate to their giant stores by crushing their spirits and bottom line on the most important sales day of the year.

But Wal Mart wound up conditioning the American public to frenzy lunatic fringe style leading up to and then on the day after Thanksgiving.  Pulling us about by our opioid receptors until we found ourselves waking up at 1130pm (a half an hour before we went to sleep) to stand in line so that we could buy a tv or laptop or xbox and save a few bucks.

Theyve conditioned their big box competitors as well to adopt the same behavior and the media who devours the consumption lust drama like m&m’s.

Im not really criticizing $WMT, more turning the mirror on ourselves for reflection.  They’re just running a business and trying to maximize investor returns.

What’s more, and despite such seductive operant contingencies, we are ultimately free to choose our own behaviors.