In Defense of the Gift Guide
They key is who you're shopping for.
Recently, I was listening to How Long Gone, one of the podcasts that inspired my best friend and I to start our own, and Chris Black said something that felt like such an unspoken truth that I was surprised no one had rang the alarm before; gift guides are out of control.
This immediately made me think of the countless gift guides I had come across in the weeks and days leading up to Black Friday. GQ itself published no fewer than 20 this holiday season, ranging from the typical what to buy for your partner (at least 4 versions), mom, or dad (Chris’ implores you to keep it simple stupid with a cashmere sweater) to the decidedly niche, with separate guides for sneaker heads, watch guys, weed guys, and candle lovers, to the downright insane (Here’s What Jeff Goldblum, Offset, Thom Browne, and 27 More Tastemakers Want for the Holidays). This last one, which includes such off-the-walls items such as a $40k diamond grill (Tyla) and $15k wired Chanel earbuds (GQ fashion editor Haley Gilbreath (how much are they paying GQ editors)), was the “guide” that inspired this take from big CB. With all of these different guides, it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees, and the forest is that the GQ website exists to peddle products and GQ writers (mostly) just write to fill a quota. I mean, they published at least 7 articles about mattresses on the same day last month.
Shopping for gifts can be an overwhelming process, especially if you’re very popular and/or have a big family. So I can understand the allure of gift guides. The problem is, if you know someone in your life is really into tech, or watches, or sneakers, they probably also have very specific taste when it comes to those things and they are also likely to be willing to spend their own hard-earned-cash on them. This is what drew me to Chris’ take. Keep it simple. Buy a cashmere (or merino) sweater for your dad. Buy one for your mom too, or maybe some candles (all moms love candles; hell everyone loves candles). If you want to buy something more sentimental, it should be something you find organically that makes you think of that person, not something you found 57 items down 82 No-Fail Gifts for Women That Definitely Won't Get Returned.
“But what does this have to do with defending gift guides, it sounds like you’re still hating on them?” Well, the one thing these guides do have going for them is they are doing just that, they are peddling products. People like products. I like products. You probably like products too. But mostly, we like buying things for ourselves. Now, buying is one thing, trawling the entire internet for the best things, and the best deals, is not so fun. That’s where GQ (and similar publications) step in. These people are paid to shop. They’ve done the heavy lifting. That brings me (finally) to my point in writing this: gift guides are useful for shopping for yourself. Gift guides are especially useful when you have people in your life that want you to send them a wishlist (like I do). Putting together a wishlist is a tedious task when everything you can think of that you want are just things you want to buy for yourself. Enter, GQ. Whether you’re a ‘dad who doesn’t want anything’, a ‘gadget freak’, a ‘stylish boyfriend’ or a ‘husband (or long term partner)’, they’ve got the list for you.
Heading up to Thanksgiving, as I was getting requests from my mom, my girlfriend, her mom, for what I wanted for Christmas, I pulled up trusty old GQ.com and started clicking through lists. I didn’t care if this list was for dads or girlfriends or moms (maybe I want a new candle), I just started scrolling. And after about 30 minutes, I found 20 or so things that I wanted, but would probably never buy for myself for one reason or another. When I sent the list to my girlfriend’s mom, it was received with a compliment of how great my list was. Thanks GQ, and your wonderfully-out-of-control gift guides.