Gift-resistance

Did you know that the retail industry studies people like me? Listen to this (emphasis mine):

In the twenty-first century, ritualized holidays (e.g., Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day) are annual events associated with excess and heightened consumption. As a consequence, consumers may sometimes avoid, minimize, or adapt consumption traditions during such events....

Anti-consumption research traditionally focuses on why individuals fail to consume or why they actively choose not to consume. --- Close and Zinkhan, 2008

How could I even consider failing to consume?! And, listen to this, my affliction even has a fancy name:

Gift-resistance often occurs via non-gift exchange (i.e., informants do not exchange gifts with their partner) or by modifying traditional gift exchanges associated with the event. Various degrees of gift-resistance, range, for example, from setting a five-dollar limit (despite having expendable funds) to encouraging others not to exchange gift. --- Close and Zinkhan, 2008

I can just hear the retailers gritting their teeth --- if you've got expendable funds, it's your patriotic duty to spend them, for crying out loud! Luckily, the article gives a bunch of suggestions to get us gift-resisters back on track.

But until they suck me back in by making me sit in front of four hours of television commercials, I'm still left with a dilemma. I feel so phenomenally gift-resistant that I'd love to beg my friends and family to skip the gift-giving this holiday. But how can that be done without hurting people's feelings?

Gifts have an obvious role in cementing relationships, and none of the gift-resistant alternatives I've seen have similar force. I'm sure someone out there has the solution --- please comment with your ideas for being gift-resistant but bonded to your friends and family.

And now, off to kill some turkeys!

Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed.

Add a comment

Like what you see here? Please support us by visiting our google sponsors, or checking out our ebook and chicken waterers:

Avian Aqua Miser: Automatic Chicken Waterer