Surprise! Sale has been extended! BUY MORE!

For the past week and a half, I've been getting Black Friday and Cyber Monday-related emails. They started flooding my inbox a couple days before Thanksgiving, alerting me of amazing sales that would last only 24 hours, so I had better shop quickly and without thinking too hard about my purchases, because the astounding deals would soon be over. So, I went to the mall on Black Friday and bought clothes I didn't need because I was convinced they'd only be super cheap for one day.

I woke up to a slew of new Black Friday-related emails the next morning. The sales had unexpectedly been extended by one day, because the stores were so committed to providing the best deals to as many customers as possible. Or at least that's what they said. In fact, these sales probably caused people to give the companies more of their money than they otherwise would have on the day after Black Friday. The day after Black Friday is probably usually a slow day, because everyone has done their frenzied shopping the day before and shopping the day AFTER a big sale isn't what most people want to do. I thought about going back to the mall to see what else I could buy, but decided I had more important things to do.

On Sunday, there were more emails. "SURPRISE! ANOTHER DAY OF HUGE MARKDOWNS!" they bellowed. "BLACK FRIDAY WEEKEND CONTINUES!" I once again contemplated going shopping. I felt like I'd be missing out if I didn't, but I really had too much homework to do. Also, tomorrow would be Cyber Monday, so I could wait.

On Cyber Monday, more emails came. The next morning, the emails talking about how Cyber Monday was extended to Tuesday came. These came on all the other days of the week as well, always emphasizing that the companies were being so generous by extending their sales so the people who missed them the previous day(s) could have a chance to buy some very cheap merchandise. The last email came this Sunday, warning me that it was the last day of "CYBER WEEK" and I had better shop some more.

None of these emails were actually inviting me to save money. They wanted to get me in the door or on the website with promises of cheap prices on some merchandise, and then get me to overspend on other merchandise. When I went shopping on Black Friday, I felt justified buying full-price merchandise because I had found other items for 90% off, so these counteracted each other. Sales are exceptional marketing techniques, especially when they're described with language like "last chance!" and "limited offer," because people don't want to miss out.