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As black Friday and the mad shopping spree from Thanksgiving to Christmas approaches, stores are getting desperate. The more desperate they get, the better deals you will find. Already, I have seen sites posting stores like Best Buy and JC Penny’s with Black Friday sales coupons. You can always visit BlackFriday.info to find the best collection of coupons. Here is what Mercury News had to say:

“Consumers may need some encouragement to get into the holiday spirit this year,” said Scott Marden, director of market research for Vertis Communication, which offers marketing services to retailers. “No interest, no payments, layaway offers, door-busters, one-stop shopping, and rebate incentives will all be welcomed by most consumers” along with gift-with-purchase deals and buy-one-get-one-free offers.

The Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy, which are owned by the Gap, are pushing hard to get consumers in the door this weekend. The company e-mailed coupons for 30 percent off to 5 million customers with an additional bonus: The Gap will give 5 percent of what you spend to a favorite nonprofit. The coupon is good through Sunday.

There’s also the soft sell: The Gap’s holiday campaign features current hot television stars such as “Cam Gigandet of “Twilight,” Jon Hamm of “Mad Men” and Mary-Louise Parker of “Weeds” in cozy pictorials.

In a departure from its traditional print and TV ads, the San Francisco-based company has also created humor-infused Webisodes featuring such unlikely pairings as Selma Blair with Rainn Wilson and the Dixie Chicks with Sandra Bernhard singing traditional Christmas songs. The videos launched Thursday and are designed to be shared through social-networking pages like Facebook and downloaded to iPhones. The six videos reside on gap.com/MerryMixIt and will be shown in movie theaters before features, too.

Josh here: I just have to say that I would love to kill the person who invented ads shown before movies. You used to be able to pay $10 for a movie and $15 on concessions, but now… You have to sit through 15 minutes of ads and previews. Don’t get me wrong, I love the previews of upcoming movies, but all the ads can disappear for all I care. I don’t want to be advertised to after paying an exorbitant amount to sit and eat junk food.

“They’re designed to bring a smile to someone’s face, given all the bad news lately,” said Olivia Doye, director of public relations and marketing for the Gap.

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