Black Friday: what makes this Friday so black?

We are soon Friday, November 25 a.k.a. the day of "big" savings and promotional codes galore, we have obviously named: Black Friday!

In recent years, this event has definitely become the ideal event for :

• consumers to get a good deal just before Christmas,
• and for brands toincrease sales, build volume andclear inventory.

At first glance, Black Friday looks like a win-win operation... So why is this last Friday of November so dark? The answer is in the following article: history of Black Friday, reasons for its emergence, impacts and reasons for its boycott, emergence of counter-current movements... You will know everything about this Friday whose name is not to be made anymore.

I. Black Friday: its birth and impact

The origin of Black Friday

The expression "Black Friday" was first heard 70 years ago, in the 1950s, in the United States: "Black Friday" because the stores and streets were simply packed with people. In fact, the principle of this commercial operation came into being in the 1930s, just after the Great Depression (1929), to boost demand and sales in order to revive the economy.

Originally, Black Friday took place on the last Friday of November just after Thanksgiving, but today it has expanded to last more generally a week - with the parallel birth of Cyber Monday to further extend the operation. This movement has been exported to France since 2013 - under the impulse of the giant Amazon.

Today, Black Friday is very common in the electronics and household appliances sector, but it is finally spreading to all sectors: fashion, textile and recently to the cosmetics, skincare and perfume sectors.

The social and environmental consequences of Black Friday

Broken prices, race to the best offer and to the savings... The real pet peeve (we couldn't help it) of this day is the consequences it generates. Social and environmental consequences, the latter being indeed quite heavy:

• Working conditions sometimes questionable, counterpart of low prices and reduced margins for the giants of e-commerce.
• An increase in energy consumption to guarantee and host consumer connections and transactions: as an example, Amazon's storage activity generated 55.8 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2018, equivalent to the emissions of Portugal according to the study conducted by the associations Attac and Friends of the Earth as well as the Union Syndicale Solidaires - completely lunar, right?
• Theincrease in packaging generated and therefore waste: cardboard, plastic, tape, bubble wrap ... directly put in the trash after opening.
• A surge in road transport and consequently in greenhouse gas emissions: about 2.5 million deliveries are expected per day (per DAY!) during Black Friday, which is 10 times more than the number of parcels delivered daily the rest of the year in Paris - 10% of which will certainly be sent back afterwards... A pollution that comes on top of those caused by packaging.

So, in response to the social and environmental consequences of Black Friday, a good number of players (including Bastille) no longer wish to follow this trend, and are developing communication campaigns against it and/or setting up counter-current movements.

II. Anti-Black Friday movements

On this Black Friday, wouldn't it be better to consider better than overproducing, to want to sell as much as possible and to rush on the e-commerce sites or in the stores not to miss the opportunity to buy a product that we certainly don't need and whose lifespan will surely not exceed the month of January - because yes, in January it is the sales...?

Moreover, between the excessive discounts that are difficult for SMEs to sustain and the collective ecological awareness reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic, the legitimacy of Black Friday no longer holds much water. This is why the trend is reversing and many movements are emerging to counter this shopping frenzy and try to raise awareness. Here are the best known of them:

Green Friday

The movement Green Friday was born in 2017 in an attempt to raise consumer awareness of more responsible and sustainable consumption. The idea is to push supply and demand to question their way of consuming and to raise awareness about the consequences of their actions. Its ambition? To change mentalities and move towards more responsible solutions, in favor of our planet and our well-being.

In 2021, for example, a large number of companies and brands have pledged to donate 10% of their Black Friday sales to NGOs such as Surfrider, which fights against ocean and coastal pollution. Bastille is one of them, and we have pledged to donate 1% of our revenues throughout the year to this NGO. It's a cause that's very close to our hearts, and one that you can play your part in by placing an order on our site.

The Make Friday Green Again

In the same approach, more than 1000 brands have joined together under the collective Make Friday Green Again.

This anti-black Friday movement insists on a specific value: the importance of consuming in a reasonable way, also insists on the consequences of Black Friday and overconsumption in general and especially on the dishonest practices of some merchants during this large-scale event that is Black Friday: false promotions, overproduction, exploitation of employees...

Fair Friday

An initiative launched and propelled by Nature & Découvertes, the Fair Friday is an event that gives consumers the opportunity to round up the amount of their basket so that the brand doubles the leftovers and then donates them to an association committed to environmental protection.

During the first edition in 2018, Fair Friday was able to raise more than €30,000 donated to support conservation policies for endangered flora and fauna. Today, the brand is inviting more and more brands to follow suit and encourage donations to environmental causes.

The Blue White Red Friday

The Blue White Red Friday is not an anti-Black Friday collective strictly speaking since it does not call for a boycott of the event. The Bleu Blanc Rouge Friday is in fact a collective that proposes a common discount of -20% on all participating French brands during Black Friday with the aim of reconciling the desire of the French to consume better with small prices in a period of inescapable purchases.

The idea? To guide small wallets that rely on Black Friday special offers to brands that create jobs and industrial dynamism close to home. This is not a -50%, -60% or -90% operation, but rather an operation to promote French know-how - since Black Friday will not stop any time soon, as long as the brands involved also occupy the field to become real alternatives.

III. Why isn't Bastille taking part in Black Friday?

And what about Bastille ? Quite simply, we refuse to take part in Black Friday because of the social and environmental consequences of this movement, but also because our prices are fair all year round. They reflect our choices:

• Use quality natural and synthetic raw materials,
• to privilege local and artisanal productions exclusively French and European,
• prices that allow us to pay our employees, our craftsmen and our partners fairly,
• and donate 1% of our income to the Surfrider association which fights against the pollution of the oceans and the littorals.

Our production process is simply not in line with the concept of Black Friday. Saying no to Black Friday is our way of continuing to offer you free, original and quality perfumes.

IV. Our tips and best practices for Black Friday

This article is not intended to throw stones and force you to stop participating in this movement. We know that for some people, being able to buy something necessary at a discounted price is clearly a benefit.

What we are trying to do through our choice not to participate in Black Friday is to raise awareness of a more reasoned and responsible consumption by preferring quality to quantity and by favoring healthy products, made close to home while buying at the right price so that each actor in the production chain can live correctly from his work.

In any case, if there's a product you've been eyeing for a long time, here are some tips to apply during Black Friday:

• Ask yourself these questions again: Is this a real business? Do I really need it? Do I already have something similar? Wouldn't it be more interesting to buy second hand on specialized websites?
• Before Black Friday, take note of the prices of the items you are interested in and keep your notes carefully. On D-Day, go back to your list and analyze the crossed-out prices. Have they been inflated? Is it a real promotion?
• Finally, store around and compare prices.

In a second step, here are some tips that will allow you to fight against this movement and to act, with small gestures, for the planet:

• Buy second hand when you can,
• Maintain your goods, instead of changing them regularly, to fight against greenhouse gas emissions,
• And find out about brands' commitments throughout the year: watch out for greenwashing, opportunism and unfounded commercial operations. Make sure that companies that chant "Anti-Black Friday" don't do it just one day a year for purely marketing reasons or to get your sympathy!

So now you know everything about Black Friday and why it is (really) black. By the way, don't hesitate to give us your opinion about this event: are you for or against Black Friday? We are curious!

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Sources: France TV Info, The Good Goods, RFI

Photos : Inconnus, Nick Prideaux, association logos