Insights
26/11/2021
It’s that day again. It comes but once a year.
It has not the joy of Christmas or vitality of Easter. It evokes not feelings of family, of closeness, nor the sense of life returning to previously frosted wastes.
It is, however, ‘a thing’. A marked time slot within the societal calendar when we’re expected to engage in a specific action.
What action? Buy. Buy. And buy some more. Yes, it’s Black Friday. Love it or hate it, with each returning winter its legitimacy frays. Keep pulling at loose ends, and it unravels. When laid threadbare, it’s nothing more than a corporate profit drive—preying upon our lust for a one-click-buy dopamine hit. Its back story and connotations are negative, yet it’s framed as a favour, a reward, an excitement.
The shiny packaging of Black Friday is straight out of Edward Bernays’ PR playbook (known as the ‘father of PR’). An event manufactured by companies to convince us to buy things we don’t need.
Hot deals. Mega savings. BLACK FRIDAY SALE! If Christmas didn’t challenge our bank accounts enough, in recent years the idea of Black Friday has spread from North America. It’s a day (today) where businesses slash their prices to encourage sales. A sort of pre-Christmas appetiser.
Although, ironically, according to Which? over 99% of Black Friday ‘deals’ are cheaper or the same price at other times of the year.
Despite this, businesses want us to associate the term Black Friday with good value and (obviously) the thrill of buying stuff. And mostly, this is the association people have. But what about semantics? Does it have other associations?
The meanings and associations of words sometimes slip under our radar.
Black Friday has many associations, the least of which marry with 25% off a Fitbit.
Did you know the original associations were negative? The term was first used in America in 1869 by investors who drove up the price of gold, causing a stock market crash. It was then used by American police in 1961 to describe heavy traffic the day after Thanksgiving.
When the term reached retailers, it upset them. They associated it with stressful events. So, the narrative was flipped. Black Friday now meant ‘being in the black’—in profit. Not ‘being in the red’.
In parallel, the term was first used in the UK by the NHS and police. It referred to the Friday before Christmas, where a rise in drinking puts extra pressure on public services.
It’s true that most people don’t give Black Friday a second thought. It’s just the perfect chance to procure that new widget at a bargain price.
But some are waking up to the new meaning of Black Friday – hyper-consumerism and peak capitalism. A buying frenzy, without care for workers or the environment.
Black Friday is a difficult time for warehouse workers and delivery drivers. The spike in orders contributes to workplace injuries and punishingly long hours, often unpaid. Nowhere is this more apparent than at Amazon. The world’s largest online retailer.
It’s no secret that Amazon has been the subject of repeated controversies surrounding worker’s rights, working conditions, and its anti-union stance. It’s also no secret that Black Friday is a big deal for Amazon.
However, this year, Amazon workers around the globe are taking a stand. A group of unions and grassroots organisations, collectively known as the Make Amazon Pay Coalition, are staging protests and strikes in 20 countries. The goal is to “Make Amazon Pay fair wages, its taxes and for its impact on the planet”. For more information visit the website and follow #MakeAmazonPay on social.
In negative feeling and consequence, Black Friday is coming full circle.
The human impact of Black Friday is clear. What about the environment? According to Money.co.uk’s Dirty Delivery Report—Black Friday 2020 was responsible for 429,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. The equivalent of over 400 flights across the Atlantic. This figure is only the carbon-cost of getting products to front doors. It doesn’t include production emissions.
Considering our climate is changing and causing extreme weather patterns, expected to affect the habitability of our planet, is Black Friday worth it?
Morally, there is only one answer.
This sounds buzzwordy. Let’s unpick. By rooting around in the semantics of Black Friday the importance of language and meaning becomes clear. If businesses stopped salivating over profits, they’d see the negativity of Black Friday is potentially damaging. Whether in name or due to its harmful social and environmental effects.
Savvy brands with empathy are rejecting Black Friday. Conversely, brands who ruthlessly bang the drum will find themselves campaigning into oblivion. Political, social, and environmental paradigms are changing.
We, as marketers and copywriters, must understand this too. Despite our jobs depending on people ‘buying stuff’—the health of our planet and species depends on us consuming less.
Can we lead the way in promoting ethical thinking and consumption? Quality over quantity. People over profits. We can and we should.
Happy Black Friday.
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