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DENTON (UNT), Texas – With unemployment in the double digits and consumer confidence continuing to slide, retailers are launching a myriad of holiday promotions in hopes of attracting holiday shoppers.

Dr. David Strutton, professor of marketing at the University of North Texas, says that in these trying times, promotions that focus on savings rather than the prototypical focus on Christmas extravagance will be the most successful.

"For most retailers' bottom lines the only promotional strategies that appear likely to prove effective this holiday season are those that involve price discounts," said Strutton. "That is unless manufacturers somehow develop some new 'must have' products. But judging by what is already visible it doesn't appear likely that many such products are going to materialize this holiday shopping season."

Many retailers are trying to lengthen the holiday shopping season by starting their holiday promotions much earlier than in years prior. Sears began advertising sales under the banner of Black Friday as early as October 30, the day before Halloween. Strutton says that the starting holiday promotions earlier and earlier may cause consumers to tune out.

"Early promotions are now the norm. Consequently consumers have come to expect them, and increasingly, are actually overtly repelled by them. Consumers appear likely to become increasingly fatigued and jaded by the whole ‘let's get the party started' process."

Strutton conceded that these early promotions – especially if they are predominantly price-based – may have the practical benefit of spreading out demand over a longer period of time, which could help retailers in terms of cash flow.

In recent years, Sears, Kmart, T.J. Maxx and other retailers began offering layaway plans, which are being marketed as alternatives to using credit cards. But Strutton called layaway plans promotional ploys "aimed at enticing generally less-well-off people to obtain ‘stuff' they likely do not need at all, or, at best, need only marginally, by allowing them to postpone payment until later."

"In fact, many such customers may postpone payment forever," he said. "Layaway policies prevailed, of course, in the ‘50s and ‘60s, but the cultural and societal norms of the time were able to accommodate these policies because in those times consumers were far less willing to overextend themselves financially and far more predisposed to pay off debts. Today, these cultural norms no longer prevail to the degree they did then."

Strutton can be reached at 940-565-3123. He also can be reached at strutton@unt.edu . Strutton is available via Skype by request; contact Alyssa Yancey at or 940-565-3510 to schedule a skype interview.

EDITOR'S NOTE: UNT now offers interviews directly to you via Skype.  You can record a video interview with available experts from your office, saving you the time and travel. To use the system, your station will need a Skype account, which is free to download from www.skype.com. Skype-to-Skype calls are free. There are versions for PCs, Mac, UNIX and other systems.

This week, a senior White House official announced that President Obama has opted not to accept any of the options for increasing troop levels and other military strategies in Afghanistan, pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government. Obama's decision came after the U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan said he had misgivings about sending in new troops while there are still so many questions about the leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

But the time for stabilization of Afghanistan has passed, according to University of North Texas political scientist J. Michael Greig, who used forecasts from statistical models to determine how the strategies under consideration might play out.

Greig and his UNT colleague Andrew J. Enterline, both associate professors of political science at UNT, studied the prospects for Afghanistan on a two-year time frame under several scenarios -- a U.S. force that continues to be the same size (68,000 troops), an increased number of U.S. troops and an increased number of troops from the Afghan National Army. The professors also studied similar efforts by foreign powers to establish democracy during the 20th century -- including the Allied forces in Germany and Japan after World War II.

The research is the focus of an opinion piece written by Greig and Enterline on the web site of "Foreign Policy" magazine.

After studying the correlation between the occurrence of insurgency in foreign-created democracies and factors such as the level of economic development, social divisions, number of neighboring democratic states and past instances of political violence, Greig and Enterline determined a 93.6 percent probability of insurgency in Afghanistan over the next year if the current force of U.S. and NATO troops and Afghan National Army soldiers stays in place. The probability of insurgency in 2010 will remain at more than 90 percent even if additional troops arrive, the professors say.

They note that deploying 15,000 more U.S. troops reduces the risk of insurgency in 2010 only by 0.1 percent. Deploying 60,000 more -- the largest additional U.S. force that has been suggested -- reduces the risk just 0.2 percent.

Greig and Enterline credit Afghanistan's ethnic and religious divisions, low level of economic development and high level of poverty and large population as leading to continued insurgency. In addition, they say, the fact that the war in Afghanistan has lasted for eight years may contribute to insurgency, since insurgency is more difficult to eliminate the longer it persists.

Read the professors' opinion piece No Good Choices.
 
Enterline is on leave this semester, but Greig may be reached at his office phone number at 940-565-4996 or by e-mail at greig@unt.edu. He may also be available via Skype by request; contact Nancy Kolsti at Nancy.Kolsti@unt.edu or 940-565-3509 to schedule an interview.

EDITOR'S NOTE: UNT now offers interviews directly to you via Skype.  You can record a video interview with available experts from your office, saving you the time and travel.  To use the system, your station will need a Skype account, which is free to download from www.skype.com. Skype-to-Skype calls are free. There are versions for PCs, Mac, UNIX and other systems.

Many families will be on strict budgets this holiday season. But that does not mean holiday meals need to suffer.

Jodi Duryea, senior lecturer and chef instructor at the University of North Texas, says cooking festive meals on Thanksgiving and Christmas does not need to break a budget.

"When you cook from scratch, you get better results and save money," Duryea says.

Duryea offers the following tips:

• Ask each guest to bring a dish. "There is no reason one person needs to cook everything. People enjoy contributing, and it spreads the expenses out."
• Change things up with a breakfast or brunch. At home, Duryea makes a Christmas brunch rather than dinner, which is a big money saver. Try a strata, muffins and fresh fruit.
• Shop ahead. If you know you will need nuts for your holiday salad, check store coupons in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas, Duryea says. You can save money on sales and get a head start on shopping.
• Make a list and stick to it. "Impulse shopping is the biggest downfall."
• Be creative with leftovers. Turkey sandwiches are a natural, but you can also make a turkey hash with poached eggs. Turkey bones make an excellent stock for soup. Use up stuffing in a breakfast casserole the next morning.
• Buy a whole turkey or chicken and cut it up. Doing this cuts down on cooking time and gives you a variety of dishes to work with, which cuts down on waste.
• Buy quality ingredients. If you can afford it, Duryea suggests buying a fresh organic turkey rather than frozen. "It does cost more, but it's worth it."

Duryea, who is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, spent 10 years working in New York restaurant kitchens. She is in her fifth year at UNT, where she teaches professional food preparation courses.

Duryea may be contacted at 940-369-8670 or 940-395-3471 or Jodi.Duryea@unt.edu.

EDITOR'S NOTE: UNT now offers interviews directly to you via Skype.  You can record a video interview with available experts from your office, saving you the time and travel.  To use the system, your station will need a Skype account, which is free to download from www.skype.com. Skype-to-Skype calls are free. There are versions for PCs, Mac, UNIX and other systems.

The smell of roasting turkey and freshly baked pumpkin pies in late November, the sound of "Jingle Bells" on the radio and the sight of beautifully decorated Christmas trees and wrapped presents lead to happy feelings for most people. But for those who are experiencing grief over the loss of a loved one, the holidays can be a time of sadness, pain, anger or dread.

Dr. Bert Hayslip, University of North Texas Regents Professor of psychology, is available to discuss tips for working through grief triggered by the holidays. He says those who are grieving a loss of a loved one during the past year should expect to experience stronger feelings of grief.

"Holidays evoke memories of and associations to family, and if a family member has died, all of those memories are going to influence feelings about Christmas, Thanksgiving and other holidays -- much as the memories will on birthdays and anniversaries," he says.

He says family members who are grieving should "plan on as much together time as possible."

"Talk about the person who has died and your memories of him or her, and develop family rituals that make his or her death more meaningful," Hayslip says.

He suggests that family members consider creating a memorial in their deceased loved one's honor, such as planting a tree, or creating a special Christmas ornament with the person in mind to "enable the person to live on despite having died."

"Doing volunteer work to help others is also useful as a way of honoring that person," he says.

Those who are grieving should avoid isolating themselves from others, he says, and also actively acknowledge that the deceased person's role in their lives "is as important at holidays as it is at other times of the year."  
 
Hayslip may be reached at his UNT office at 940-565-2675. He may also be available via Skype by request; contact Nancy Kolsti at Nancy.Kolsti@unt.edu or 940-565-3509 to schedule an interview.