Black Friday: what makes this Friday so black?

It's almost Friday, November 25, aka the day of “big” savings and promotional codes galore , we obviously called it: Black Friday !

In recent years, this event has definitely established itself as the ideal event for:

• consumers to get good deals just before Christmas ,
• and for brands to increase their sales , build volume and sell off their stocks.

At first glance, Black Friday seems like a win-win... So why is this last Friday in November so dark? The answer can be found in the rest of the 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 no longer to do .

I. Black Friday: its birth and its 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 reality, the principle of this commercial operation arrived in the 1930s, just after the Great Depression (1929) to revive demand and push sales in order to revive the economy .

Originally, Black Friday took place on the last Friday of November just after Thanksgiving , but it has now expanded and more generally lasts a week - with the parallel birth of Cyber ​​Monday to further extend the period. operation. This movement was subsequently exported to France from 2013 - under the leadership of the giant Amazon.

Today, Black Friday is very common in the electronics and household appliances sector but it eventually extends to all sectors : fashion, textiles and more recently to the cosmetics, care and perfume sectors.

The social and environmental consequences of Black Friday

Slashed prices, race for the best offer and savings... The real pet peeve (we couldn't help it) of this day are the consequences it engenders . Social and environmental consequences , the latter being indeed quite serious:

• Sometimes questionable working conditions, the counterpart of low prices and reduced margins for the e-commerce giants.
• An increase in energy consumption to guarantee and accommodate consumer connections and transactions: for example, Amazon's storage activity generated 55.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2018, i.e. the equivalent of Portugal's emissions according to the study carried out by the Attac and Friends of the Earth associations as well as the Solidaires trade union - completely lunar, no?
• The increase in packaging generated and therefore waste : cardboard, plastic, tape, bubble wrap, etc. put directly in the trash after opening.
• The surge in road transport and consequently greenhouse gas emissions : around 2.5 million deliveries are expected per day (per DAY!) during Black Friday, i.e. 10 times more than the number of packages delivered daily on rest of the year in Paris - 10% of which will certainly be returned afterwards... Pollution which is added to that caused by packaging.

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

II. Anti-Black Friday movements

On this Black Friday, wouldn't it be better to consider better than to overproduce, to want to sell as much as possible and to rush to e-commerce sites or to stores so as 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 there are sales...?

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

Green Friday

The Green Friday movement was born in 2017 to try to raise consumer awareness of more responsible and sustainable consumption. The idea is to encourage supply and demand to question their way of consuming and to raise awareness of the consequences of their actions. His ambition? 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 committed to donating 10% of the amount of their Black Friday turnover to NGOs such as Surfrider in particular, which fights against pollution of oceans and coastlines. Bastille is one of them and we are committed to donating 1% of our income throughout the year to this NGO . A cause that is very close to our hearts and in which you participate by placing an order on our site.

Make Friday Green Again

In the same process, more than 1000 brands came together under the Make Friday Green Again collective .

This anti-Black Friday movement insists on a very specific value: that of the importance of consuming in a reasoned manner, also insists on the consequences that Black Friday and overconsumption generate in general and especially on the dishonest practices of certain merchants during this major event that is Black Friday: false promotions, overproduction, exploitation of employees...

Fair Friday

An initiative launched and powered by Nature & Découvertes, Fair Friday is an event which 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 which is 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 fauna and flora in danger of extinction. Today, the brand invites more and more brands to follow the movement and encourages donations to environmental causes .

Blue White Red Friday

Bleu Blanc Rouge Friday is not an anti-Black Friday collective strictly speaking since it is not calling for a boycott of the event. Bleu Blanc Rouge Friday is in fact a collective which offers a joint reduction of -20% on all participating French brands during Black Friday with the aim of reconciling the desire of the French to consume better with low prices in an unmissable shopping period.

The idea? Guide small wallets who rely on Black Friday special offers towards brands that create jobs and industrial dynamism close to home. This is not a -50%, -60% or -90% operation but rather an operation promoting French know-how - since Black Friday will not stop soon as much as the brands committed are also occupying the ground to become real alternatives.

III. Why does Bastille not participate in Black Friday?

And Bastille in all this? Very simply, we refuse, on the one hand, to participate in Black Friday for the consequences that this movement generates both socially and environmentally but also because our prices are fair all year round . They reflect our choices:

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

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

IV. Our advice and best practices for Black Friday

This article is not intended to throw stones at you and force you to no longer participate in this movement. We know that for some people, being able to buy something necessary at a reduced price is clearly an advantage.

What we are trying to do above all through our choice not to participate in Black Friday is to raise awareness of 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 make a decent living from their work.

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

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

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

• Favor second-hand purchases 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 baseless commercial operations. Make sure that companies chanting “Anti-Black Friday” do not only say this one day a year for purely marketing reasons or to attract your sympathy!

There you go, you now know everything about Black Friday and the reasons why this Friday is (really) black. Besides, don't hesitate to give us your opinion regarding this event: more for or against Black Friday? We are curious!

------

Sources: France TV Info , The Good Goods , RFI

Photos: Unknown, Nick Prideaux, association logos