Black Friday: risks and side-effects?
For weeks now, businesses have been advertising their Black Friday discounts via emails, ads, posters and brochures. The day has become practically synonymous with a highly consumer-oriented time of year, the pre pre-Christmas period. Commentators pause to reflect.
A bad anti-depressive
Õhtuleht counsels:
“Humans are herd animals, and shopping is a widespread practice for pain relief. Its usefulness, however, is another matter entirely. After all, it's not just an innocent pastime since it wastes time, money and the resources of Mother Earth. We should take a different approach to dealing with negative feelings. Better to go for a walk and remember that the sun always shines above the clouds. The good feeling should be firmly shaken out of shopping.”
Deals often exaggerated
The Irish Times warns:
“While some people will no doubt find bargains, many others will end up buying products they don't need or can't afford at discounted prices that turn out to be largely illusory. ... Repeated studies from British consumer magazine Which? have shown that retailers in the UK - many of whom also operate in the Republic - are guilty of exaggerating the deals on offer. The vast bulk of the products sold at a discount were found to be available at the same price - or even less - in the six months before or after the supposed sales.”
How shopping sprees destroy the environment
ctxt.es calculates the consequences of buying too many clothes:
“In Europe, 16 kilograms of textile waste is generated per person per year. ... Eighty percent of the textiles collected in containers are destined for export outside the EU, to countries such as Kenya, where 30-40 percent arrives in such poor condition that it is effectively useless. ... Eighty-nine percent contains non-biodegradable plastics, which end up polluting the environment in the form of microplastics. From 2025 it will become compulsory for textile companies to set up collection containers for old clothes. Taken on its own, this may seem like progress - but it's not. Increasing the amount of clothes that are thrown away for reuse will have a serious impact on the environment, especially for countries in the Global South.”
Give used items as gifts instead of buying more
In L'Humanité, Maud Sarda, founder of the second-hand retailer Label Emmaüs, calls on people to resist the lure of special offers:
“At a time when Black Friday is saturating our screens with short-lived promises, we invite you to make a sustainable choice. ... We can do better with what we already have, and our gifts can be acts of solidarity, remembrance and hope. Faced with the environmental and social challenges ahead, this decision is more than an individual gesture - it is a collective statement. This festive season, let us give new life to the things around us. Let us reinvent Christmas together, beyond hyper-consumerism.”