Should Black Friday be banned?
Should Black Friday be banned?
Consumerism is part of the climate problem and perhaps more so a waste disposal problem. Consumerism probably cannot be stopped but it can be reduced. It’s disturbing in the current climate that #BlackFriday still exists. To encourage the kick-off of mass consumption a month before Christmas likely does a lot damage.
I suppose cancelling Black Friday would be impossible in the US (where I suspect it started). A large number of democrats would oppose it and probably every single republican in the US would fight to their death an anti-consumerism action like that.
But what about Europe? Doesn’t Belgium and Netherlands restrict store-wide sales to just two weeks or so out of the year? For Europe, perhaps instead of cancelling it (which many would view as over-interventionist) they could double the VAT rates on that day on clothes and electronics. IDK.. that’s probably crazy talk. Ideas welcome. There’s no real issue with sales on services, but consumption of goods is where the damage is done.
I hate the idea that one of the most environmentally reckless companies in the world (#Amazon) gets a huge boost in sales on Black Friday. It makes the day depressing to see the masses rush to enrich a company they should be boycotting all year. I loved Black Friday back in the days when I was a loose cannon consumerist myself. Now it’s just a shit day where I deliberately avoid shops in order to not support it.
UPDATE
To be clear, I would not propose cancelling the unofficial holiday US employers often give on Black Friday. Just the sales.
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I definitely don't endorse Black Friday, but I think this mindset uses the wrong sorts of tools to answer what might not even be the right question.
You can't fix the "we should go shopping on Friday after Thanksgiving" mindset with a law, or at least not with a law that's even vaugly in line with laws existing where I live. Even if you banned sales the day after Thanksgiving, that's not the issue, the bugger problem is the relationship between people, community, goods and brands.
Consider how Europe and Australia counter tobacco ads by forcing them to put gross pics on the cartons, and blocking their ads from places where children would encounter them. It’s acknowledged that marketing works. If it didn’t work, it wouldn’t be used.
I don’t have a problem with govs regulating harmful ads. But at the risk of going on a tangent, I think the research shows that the sensational pics Europe and Australia actually proved to fail. Though it failed for reasons that wouldn’t apply to Black Friday. It was related to how the extreme pics stimulated a part of the brain that triggers smokers to want to smoke (or something like that).
Belgium and Netherlands, perhaps France already regulate sales. So at least in those places, why would it be “the wrong tool” to refine a tool that’s already in play?
Even if you banned sales the day after Thanksgiving, that’s not the issue
What would happen? If the absence of sales promotions would have no reduction of consumerism, why would retailers go to expense of organizing a sale and marketing it?
I guess my distaste comes from the fact that this is a "top down" approach when a "bottom up" approach feels both more effective and attainable. The rejection of consumerism should come from people, not from a government, and the idea that the government should work to influence attitudes and not the reverse is worrying to me.
I guess my underlying assumption was that a dictatorship is not in play, but rather a gov elected by the people to represent them. I don’t see how the idea would come from the gov. The gov would be carrying out an idea from the people it represents.
Otherwise, what would you envision with the rejection of consumerism coming from the people? Do you mean individual actions like boycotts? I’ve been boycotting Black Friday for years but it’s not working.
I’ve also switched to a bicycle but this does nothing to get people out of cars. In fact by going to a bicycle, I made the street less crowded so car drivers are rewarded by my action. My individual actions don’t scale well enough. Nonetheless, I still take individual actions like consuming like a vegan more and more. And I hope it catches on. I hope the thread would inspire readers to boycott Black Friday. But I have little confidence it will make a dent.
EDIT: one thing I think I under-emphasized, which Europeans seem to pay attention to more than the rest of the world: Black Friday is a day off for non-retail workers. But retail workers don’t only have to work, but they also have a busy stressful and long work day while everyone else has fun. Those workers should have equal rights protections. I speak theoretically in a sense, because BF is a not a day off for anyone outside the US anyway.