Bait And Switch, Institutionalized

The retail industry wakes up this morning to news that Black Friday shopping is down from last year, that less people shopped, that those who shopped spent less.

No surprise.  The retailing community has gone too far. They have made Black Friday into a farce.  This should be self-evident when a Day becomes a Week, when the midnight sales become 6 pm sales the day before.
And the ploys to get around the low prices gains steam.  For example, we saw ads for a car dealer advertising a 2014 Hyundai Sonata for under $13,000.  Only for Black Friday.  But when you read the very fine print against a blurry background you learned that first you had to pay $4,000 down.  Then note that the quoted price contained a couple of thousand discount for active duty military, something not everyone or even most are.  So the actual price hovered around $20,000.  That's probably where you learn "Oh, did you want the Options Package?"
Consumers are tired of the furniture stores advertising 3-Day sales that end Monday, good because the next 3-Day sale is imminent.
Retailers should stop the nonsense and become, well, retailers, not hucksters to the foolish degree.