Once again Black Friday is approaching, that consumerism party imported from the United States that will take place on November 27 and whose limits are increasingly blurred, with “anticipated offers” advertised massively by all the media for several weeks in advance. As always, since its arrival in Spain in 2010, it will promote excessive and unnecessary consumption at the expense of the needs created for people and the well-being of the planet.
This day generates a lot of expectation among the large distributors. For instance , in Spain, according to Criteo data from last year1, there has been a 444% increase in sales compared to the previous dates, and clients began to consult price data on the web 43 days before on average. All of this explains the reason why these “offers” (real or fake) come about more and more in advance. Likewise, the impact of Covid-19 has meant that in Spain 3 more products are consumed per capita during confinement through online sales2.
The consequences of excessive consumerism are serious for the planet. According to Greenpeace reports3, in 2020 the production of plastics will increase 500 million tons, 900% more than in 1980. In order to cope with that level of consumption, if it maintains the current growth rate, 190 million tons of CO2 emissions will be increased in 2060.
On the other hand, Black Friday is not a campaign for people with few resources to get offers, but, in most cases, a marketing hoax designed to make us buy more. According to data from the British consumer organization “Which?”4, 95% of discounts could be found for the same or a lower price six months prior to this date, and one could get 74% of them at the same price, again, six months later.
We must become aware of the consequences of excessive consumerism. The upcoming Black Friday will also be the International Day Against Consumerism5. It is a good day to enter into a dynamic that questions hyper cosumerism and to refuse to keep on playing along with Amazon, Apple and all those who want to enrich themselves at the expense of the environment, manipulating us to sell us things we do not need. Together we can stop it!
1 https://www.criteo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Criteo-Mini-Guide-Black-Friday-2020-EU-EN.pdf 2 https://www.sendcloud.es/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Estudio-Ecommerce-Sendcloud-2020-2021.pdf 3 https://es.greenpeace.org/es/sala-de-prensa/informes/ranking-de-supermercados-eliminad-vuestro-maldito-plastico/ 4 https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/black-friday/article/black-friday-deals-how-to-check-if-a-black-friday-deal-is-real-aKtJD2L0zJEt 5 https://www.ecologistasenaccion.org/809/dias-y-eventos-sobre-ecologia-y-medio-ambiente/
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