The trials and tribulations of the first class

Anyone who has visited the HMV location at the Pen Centre since the end of this year's holiday season would likely have been subject to their post-holiday "gift fatigue" campaign. For those who aren't familiar with it, the campaign posters consist of the tagline "Gift Fatigue: It's a Real Condition", and then encourage the readers to help remedy this "condition" by buying themselves something fun they really want, either to make up for presents they got that they didn't actually want, or to make up for having to buy stuff for a bunch of people other than themselves. The posters never make it clear whether it is the getting or the giving that causes this fatigue.

There are so many issues with this campaign, it is difficult to determine where to begin. The idea that giving or receiving gifts can be a negative process that results in fatigue is problematic, as it devalues the thought and love frequently put into gift exchanging. The concept also presents gift exchanging as a form of chore that is painful, when it is something that can actually be enjoyable and fun for the majority of people. However, the most striking issue — and the one that will be focused on — is the fact that it is an insult to people who cannot afford to buy gifts, or who do not receive any gifts over the holidays. Complaining about fatigue associated with gift exchanges when there are people who can't even participate in the process at all is just plain ridiculous.

Some people may quickly be reminded of the trend this past holiday season of people posting complaints on their Facebook and Twitter accounts that they were dissatisfied by their gifts, and mad at their parents for inadequate gifting. This trend was so widespread it resulted in parody songs with titles like "Am I the only one who didn't get an iPhone?" and compilation photos popping up all over the Internet of teenagers who were upset that they were not given cars and iPhones as presents. Either way, the same issue is at hand – people are complaining about the quality of things that other people don't even have.

This issue of wealthy people complaining about the petty issues in their lives that are completely irrelevant to the majority of the world — a phenomenon frequently referred to as "first-world problems" — is problematic, as it belittles the more severe problems that others face, and reveals a complete lack of appreciation or perspective in today's generation. Although this issue has long been accepted as simply an irritating trait amongst a few entitled wealthy teenagers, the fact that a major electronics chain such as HMV is propagating and naturalizing these views through a marketing campaign is concerning. It is going to be much harder for people to recognize how ridiculous first-world problems are if they are being publicly lamented by the large corporations that make up the majority of the North American market. HMV should think more carefully before creating their next campaign, and avoid propagating ridiculous views that equate petty, suburban problems of "gift fatigue" to actual, serious issues.