Like Christmas or Easter, as it is implied in the name Holy Days, most holidays are traditionally days off of work associated with religious occurrences. In other cases, these holidays symbolize meaningful dates, like the end of major conflicts, or national independence days. However, in recent decades, due to the never-ending chase for more profits and material gain, a new kind of holiday rooted in overconsumption as emerged and flourished.
n a society where individualism is increasingly welcomed, and where personal happiness is often-time wrongly associated with material gain and accumulation of wealth, shouldn’t holidays be viewed as a reminder of intrinsic values such as family, kindness, and liberty? During these pandemical times shouldn’t holidays also be a reminder of the past in order to help build a better future? As such, some Holidays even help embody timeless social principles such as equal treatment for all, like Martin Luther King Day (20th January) and even call to action for more sustainable habits with Earth day (22nd April). Holidays are meant to be a time of introspection and self-reflection for all, they should not be used as a marketing strategy to push mass consumerism. The same traditional mass consumerism that further increases our carbon emissions, and deepens social injustices across the globe.
This is why a day like the now notorious Black Friday, can hardly be considered a holiday. Instead of bringing people together in a true holiday spirit, it pushes them to further indulge in the same mass-production and mass-consumption habits that led us down this environmental crisis in the first place.
Black Friday remains a basic marketing technique aimed at bringing increased profits through short periods of discounted over-consumption. Moreover, the global economic crisis engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic could help justify the adoption of such methods to overcome it, but wouldn’t that be a bit like fighting fire with fire? With the rise of eCommerce in the 21st century, this clever marketing ploy morphed into Cyber Monday, and like a snowball turning into an avalanche, it grew in size to include Small business Saturday and Sunday. Later crossing the ocean to capitalize on the European market. Since then, Black Friday has even reached Asian markets, and developed into an ever-evolving trend of mass consumption, taking a lot more days than just one Friday as its name would suggest.
Accordingly, this trend remains the strongest in the U.S, the place where Black Friday and it's many offspring first saw the light. This year alone the U.S reported that despite Black Friday hitting a new record of $9 billion, which marks an increase of 21.6% over last year, it lost the race to a 15.1% increase in Cyber Monday online sales which totaled $10.8 billion. This loss to its counterpart being mainly attributed to the physical restrictions brought on by COVID-19. Nonetheless, the overall holiday spending is already well past the $100 billion benchmark in the U.S alone. In times of pandemically induced economic crisis, this trend can be viewed as a relief, but let’s be clear that there are clear environmental and social costs associated with it. This year, In the UK alone, for the estimated 7.5 billion GBP generated by Black Friday and Cyber Monday, experts estimate the total greenhouse gas emissions to reach 429,000 tons. This number would pale in comparison to its American cousin whose sales reached more than double this amount for the same period.
Furthermore, this recent expansion into more markets of these new so-called holidays, which were once characterized by American shoppers rushing in a one vs all battle to get the best deals on a new TV screen, is the symptom and the cause of much deeper issues. In times where global warming, social-economic injustices, and a global pandemic are at the center of every debate, should the focus really be on spending as few dollars as possible to acquire another pair of running shoes? Such practices of overconsumption exacerbate the global carbon footprint and drive corporations to produce more for less, which often time directly correlates with broader social rights violations.
Finally, there is an increasing number of sustainably responsible companies and consumers who boycott black Friday through non-participation, or the offer of more sustainable products and services. Some even advocate the shift from Black Friday to a Buy Nothing Day or a Green Friday, which would focus on buying locally and in an environmentally conscious fashion. Furthermore, through increasing awareness and involvement in more sustainable circular economies, and movements like minimalism, methods of consumption are slowly but surely changing.
As Christmas is near, let’s try to consume less and produce better in order to shift the balance towards a more sustainable future for all, and brighter holidays for generations to come.
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