Everyone advocates having special messages for the holidays. Heck, we even suggest it here at Wikimotive. The key though, as with most things in life, is knowing when and where to draw the line. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a celebrated and much loved holiday in the USA, but the spirit of the day doesn’t lend itself to marketing gimmicks, so you shouldn’t try to force them…especially if you’re going to go about it in as crass a manner as the image above.
If you want to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day on your social networks or in your blog, feel free to do so. Just make it about the man and the message and the movement, not about trying to make a few extra bucks.
This may seem like obvious advice, but today both Hennessy and the Gap (the GAP!!!) both tried to run Martin Luther King Jr. Day sales and were hammered for it across social media. Sure, Hennessy isn’t an American company so maybe they can play the “we misunderstood the spirit of the Holiday” card, but the Gap has no excuse.
Then again, maybe we as a country are ready for sales on Martin Luther’s day? After all, we already make sale events out of everything from Thanksgiving to Memorial day. Personally, I think that some days should be sacred, but it appears as though I’m on the losing side of this one. What do you all think? Is it in good taste to celebrate capitalism on days like Memorial Day and MLK Jr. Day, or should we reign it in a little and keep the deals in check (or at least name them something different)?