Article anglais Black Friday Terminale

Is Black Friday a good plan ?

In the list of the traditional celebrations we find Thanksgiving which is a federal holiday in the United States, celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. And, since 1952, another celebration appears in this list ; the famous Black Friday.

Black Friday is an informal name for the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Many stores offer highly promoted sales on Black Friday and open very early. But does the Black Friday really permits to save money ? Or is it just a way for companies to increase their turnover ?

That’s what I wanted to know. So I went to a shopping centre in New York during Black Friday and my experience there was… special.

Indeed, the behaviour of some of customers was just unbelievable ; they pushed others in the crowd, they yelled at each others, some of them were even fighting to get the TV they want. The noise could be compared to a playground. It was like nobody was civil anymore. The police even had to intervene several times.

I felt really oppressed and not safe. I felt like i could receive something in the face at any moment. To be honest, I was scared. And be scared to do shopping is not supposed to be normal.

Indeed, I think that Black Friday feeds over-consumption. The promotions that Black Friday offers are not as good as we think ; according to a study, the discounts were only 2% in 2016. So I think that all the striking images of hustling, with consumers rushing over each other to take over equipment (which we can imagine they did not necessarily have a vital need), was not necessary. Plus, Black Friday has a significant ecological impact that we can avoid by chasing alternative buying.

So, against compulsive consumption, let’s advocate for a citizen purchasing power: that of changing the world on a daily basis !

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