That time of year
Black Friday is upon us
For a long time we expected companies and brands to offer special sales the day after Thanksgiving. Black Friday sales are infamous and for some bring images of hoards of people fighting their way into a store. I recently found out the name of this infamous shopping day has to do with people coming into Philadelphia on December 26th for an annual football game and causing a lot of raucous. These days it’s more about spending money and in 2023, Black Friday sales in the US reached $9.5 billion.
Some of us wait to get something special on sale and/or presents for the upcoming holidays. For the first few years of my company Seek Collective, I refused to partake in doing sales around this time of year because I didn’t want to contribute to this overdone consumption. Eventually I was convinced to join in by all my advisors because they pushed it was impossible to compete when everyone else was partaking in these sales. It has continued to rub me the wrong way and having just watched the new documentary on Netflix ‘Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy’ I’m reminded what a problem our consumption is and how Black Friday sales support this issue. I recommend watching this as there are some interesting interviews with people at all different stages of marketing and production. I must worn you there are some strange robotic musical numbers that I could have done without though.
The film is a good reminder that we live in a world where we are constantly being encouraged to buy as much as possible and as often as possible. It is also a good reminder that no matter how “bad” companies have behaved or are behaving, it is the consumers that have a lot of power. This week I’ve received endless emails about sales starting early and I keep getting tempted myself. I’ll add things to my ‘cart’ and then ask myself “do I really really need this?”. More often than not the answer is no. That being said, I do get a lot of joy from finding presents for friends and family for the holidays. So in case you are also holiday shopping right now but also feel overwhelmed by all the marketing being thrown at you, I’m sharing some ideas for gifts that support businesses that are truly sustainable.
