We’ve all done it: begging our mothers to buy the latest gaming console, the newest Playmobil sets, or the latest school clothes. You don’t need a degree in private law to turn into a little lawyer and argue your case when you’re a child. So, between increased purchasing power and increased “waste power,” the line is thin.
The Black Friday (or Black Friday) is a period of heavy promotions outside of sales. This day encourages overconsumption “just in case I need a kitchen robot that cleans, massages my little toes, and washes the kids”...
We invite you to understand Black Friday a little better, its origins, what happens on the brand side, the legislation, and to look at what some stores offer to avoid this phenomenon of hyper-consumption. Shall we get started?
The origins of Black Friday
Black Friday comes from the United States. This promotional day takes place on the Friday following Thanksgiving at the end of November. Black Friday appeared in the 1950s in the United States and was an opportunity for Americans to take a day off to enjoy a longer weekend and start Christmas shopping. And since we are often inspired by American culture, it would have been strange if this famous Black Friday did not cross the Atlantic. So, with a lot of paddling and rowing, Black Friday reached French shores in the 2010s. It is a rather recent phenomenon, and its notoriety really began to grow from 2014. Today, the Black Friday even extends into a weekend that concludes with “Cyber Monday,” which allows prices to be lowered even further on the following Monday.
This Black Friday is a Black weekend for the planet and the environment. We are often already well equipped, and this day is intended to push us to buy. Some brands highlight their new manufacturing process, a new “greener” feature, or a “free and more responsible” delivery service. Unfortunately, this is a greenwashing technique to make us consume more and give us a clear conscience.
As a fun fact: “The average Frenchman owns 51 kg of clothes.”
In terms of carbon weight, this represents 1.3 tons of CO2 emissions. We are all full of contradictions, but this is beyond belief.
Black Friday on the brand side
Black Friday allows brands to slash prices outside of the sales period. -60%, -70%, and even -90%, and just a little more and the product disappears completely... Some sometimes produce clothes especially for this event, a few weeks before. Crazy, isn’t it?
To give you some concrete examples:
In China, the weeks leading up to these events are called the “Black Season.” A black season where work intensifies at the same time as working conditions and the environment deteriorate. All this for the same salary (which is already very low, even indecent).
Added to these conditions is the pressure that employees have to face: one mistake and they are fired. As is often the case, the workers live in remote rural areas, they eat and sleep on site to ensure a substantial number of hours. The icing on the cake, they are not allowed to leave their workplace and their identity documents are confiscated to ensure maximum productivity and zero absenteeism.
In Uzbekistan, a country very well known for its cotton culture, the government issues decrees allowing children over 5 years old to leave school and go work in the fields for harvesting. Yes, yes, it is 2022…
And the legislation in all this?
On the legal side, we distinguish this promotional day from the sales period.
According to Article 442 of the Commercial Code: “any person who, directly or indirectly, imposes a minimum on the resale price of a product or good, the price of a service, or a commercial margin, is punished by a fine of €15,000.”
It is only during the sales period that retailers have the right to sell at a loss, i.e., twice a year. Selling at a loss... You understand better why the system is not working properly. Sellers choose the discount they want while respecting the decree of March 11, 2015, which requires that the initial price be clearly displayed and that the seller can justify it. This does not prevent some from artificially inflating reference prices just before Black Friday so they can offer “fake discounts” on the day. Do you have the references?
Oé, what are the others doing?
Patagonia, discretion to go towards oblivion?
We remember the shocking but very well thought out campaign by Patagonia in 2011 with its famous phrase “don’t buy this jacket.” This campaign went around the world to the point of making the front page of the New York Times. Last year Patagonia remained discreet and chose not to change anything on its website: no promotion, not a word about Black Friday. The goal: to remove this habit from the minds of the French.
With Aigle, Black Friday takes flight
Thanks to the arrival of the new CEO Sandrine Conseiller, many profound changes have taken place at Aigle: removal of air transport of products, work on the sourcing of materials, certification of manufacturing partners in Asia, and bringing production units closer to metropolitan France. For Black Friday 2021, Aigle had made a radical decision: closing its 48 stores in France and its e-shop. The website directed to the “Second Souffle” second-hand offer page. A breath of fresh air that does good!
Make Friday Green Again launched by Faguo
The co-founder of the brand Faguo is at the origin of the Make Friday Green Again initiative. This collective aims to remind the disastrous consequences of Black Friday. More than 1200 brands are already mobilized. These last sign a open letter addressed to the president of the republic denouncing all the consequences that Black Friday has on the planet. The collective invites citizens to consume more responsibly. The brands that are part of it commit not to do Black Friday in 2022 and the years that follow.
The black FridOé
At Oé, we want to draw a definitive line under Black Friday. Being the first wine brand to bring back the deposit, we are more committed than ever to reuse.
The principle? Bottles are received before being washed, cleaned, and returned to producers. Bottle producers can then bottle them and make them reusable again. It is a cycle. This economic system limits waste and waste and reduces our environmental impact.
For Black Friday, we make the choice not to do a promotion because that would mean negotiating prices with our suppliers and our winegrowers. And since we want everyone to be paid their fair value, we do not change our prices.
