As a professional bargain shopper, I appreciate a good deal as much as anyone does. In previous years, I've done the Black Friday thing in Lynnwood, waking up way too early the day after Thanksgiving in hunt of some various electronics I don't really need (ok, REALLY don't need) just because it's a "deal".
Since I've been scouring the online deals this past 9 months or so, I'm not as interested in going out this year.
The release of the ads early is all the talk of the web. Target's Black Friday ad is a much coveted one, as is Wal-Mart's ad. It appears Wal-Mart has some pretty good deals, a laptop for under $200 and a GPS for under $60. These companies take such security measures to protect their ad content, but unfortunately for them, it only takes one leak in the system somewhere along the way.
I remember at a newspaper I previously worked at hearing some of Wal-Mart's requirements to carry their preprint inserts in your publications. You have to keep the Wal-Mart inserts locked up so that they cannot be accessed by anyone other than the designated handler of them. They even send someone out to your prepress area to make sure that you are complying with this request.
But these are such large companies with such huge reaches that it is nearly impossible to prevent the leaking of these ads. Imagine if a small local business had an upcoming sale and the public was dying to see the ad! (Sorry, a little bit of advertising humor).
