Black Friday: 4 Reasons Why You Should Not Participate
Offers and discounts for “Black Friday” have been seen everywhere for a few weeks. It is difficult not to be tempted, but before unleashing the consumer euphoria it is worth stopping and thinking. In most cases the alleged offers are not as juicy as they lead us to believe.
November 27 is Black Friday, so we have, one more year, the battle of discounts. The trade generates billions in sales and many consumers are happy with the supposed bargains they get. However, there are some strong arguments against Black Friday.
Black Friday was invented in the United States and takes place after Thanksgiving, when the holiday sales traditionally begin there. The following Monday is Cyber Monday, the start of the Christmas sales in online stores. Over the two days, online stores and retailers lure in with special offers and discounts, and customers dive headfirst.
Why Black Friday isn’t so good for 4 reasons
These shopping days are becoming more and more popular here as well. The point is that almost no one asks an essential question before buying: do I need it? We give you five reasons why you should not participate in Black Friday:
1. So-called bargains aren’t always.
“Best deal of the year”, “70 percent off” … During Black Friday, retailers attract with discounts and bargains that seem incredible. However, not all offers are real if we compare them with the prices of previous months.
In many stores, prices go up a few weeks before Black Friday and then present the supposed discount. This is the conclusion reached by two German media outlets after exhaustive investigations.
Comparison portal Netzsieger looked at the prices of TVs, smartphones, refrigerators and washing machines from Amazon, MediaMarkt and other large marketers for a month and found strong price fluctuations. Only in one of the eight devices examined did the price drop continuously. The price of some devices increased to 70 euros shortly before Black Friday.
An analysis of the ZDF channel reached a similar result: the program team tracked the prices of 3,068 products from two months before Black Friday in 2017 to four months later. The result was very conclusive: the price remained the same for most of the products.
However, one is under the impression of saving money on Black Friday. One of the strategies of retailers is to present the manufacturer’s suggested retail price as the “original price”, but the reality is that retailers almost always offer significantly lower prices, due to competition.
2. Black Friday promotes the consumer cycle
Black Friday has a single goal: to stimulate consumption and empty the stores of retailers.
On shopping day, millions of people around the world buy things that they often don’t need, simply because they seem so “cheap.” The electronics and cosmetics industries, which are not staples, stand to gain the most by generating billions in additional sales in one day.
It is a strategy against the sustainability of any economy and in favor of a throwaway culture. In this way it contributes to CO2 emissions, which cause climate change, and of all kinds of polluting substances.
Aware of this reality, the organizations ECODES, WWF and Ecoserveis promote Green Friday in Spain so that citizens learn to consume in a way that satisfies their needs while respecting the environment.
3. Black Friday leads us into a mental trap
Many use Black Friday to buy something “at a discount” that they have wanted for a long time. You may find that discount, because sometimes stores use this day to lower the price and sell products that are going to be replaced by new models. But businesses also know that the customer is going to “take advantage” to compare something else.
Neuroscientists have been able to show that the mere sight of the percent discount sign on a label opens our eyes wide and activates the reward system in the brain. The pleasure of buying cheap seeks to repeat itself insatiably.
There is also another problem, these discount days are a double-edged sword. They generate more sales. But these campaigns also reinforce the discount culture. This makes it increasingly difficult to sell products at normal prices. How can you lower the price of a quality product that produces moderate profits?
4. Consumption does not make you happy
Even if a (supposed) Black Friday sale may initially create a feeling of euphoria, then consumption for the sake of consumption does not make you happy.
According to a Greenpeace study, shopping triggers negative emotions after the initial euphoria. After shopping, feelings of guilt or an inner emptiness are often experienced, which many combat with more consumption.
“At Greenpeace we are against Black Friday, against the massive and compulsive consumerism that, in some way, they force us to do. And this year, like last year, we are calling you to boycott it”, writes Celia Ojeda on her blog on the Greenpeace website.
