Black Friday or Buy Nothing Day - which side are you on?

Rosie_Scope

Black Friday used to be just an American thing, a day of sales and discounts celebrated on the Friday after Thanksgiving. But much like a lot of things, it's started creeping over here and is now all over our shops for weeks. Everywhere you go either online or out in the world, there are signs advertising Black Friday Deals.

But today is also Buy Nothing Day, where people are encouraged to put away the cash and ignore the Black Friday hype. The message of Buy Nothing Day is to reject the idea that you need to buy new things all the time. People sometimes celebrate by passing on clothing or essentials to people who need them, or just simply sitting back and enjoying what they already own.

Some might say that Black Friday sales help people afford Christmas presents or items that they might not otherwise be able to buy. But others say it's just a con, and the prices aren't that low to begin with. And there are definitely some sneaky tactics around trying to get you to spend more than you want to!

So which camp are you in?

Do you enjoy the bargains of Black Friday, or do you think it's too much pressure to buy things? Has Black Friday ever helped you to get a really good deal on something you needed?

Will you be participating in Buy Nothing Day instead?

Interested to hear what you think!

Jake59Hello

Buy Nothing Day!

Buy Nothing Day, all day long! Black Friday is a capitalist construction invented to con people into spending money on "bargains" which are often no cheaper than the items cost just a few months/weeks/days ago.

whistles

Buy Nothing Day!

Buy nothing day.

I am a minimalist, so nothing is my norm. 😂

michael57

Buy Nothing Day!

surly it can only be a sale price if it was less than the original price when it was first put on the market anything else is a sales ploy

Jake59Hello

Buy Nothing Day!

Buy nothing day, all day long! Black Friday is full of loads of non-deals (where the prices are "reduced" from a level to which they had previously been raised! This is, of course, a con).

To expand this to Christmas: we should really have a minimalist Christmas, when we don't get ripped off (and saddled by debt) by inflated prices, and being forced into buying what people don't want/need, with money that, often, we don't have, to pay for stuff which has, in the main, been made using/exploiting unsafe and exploitative working practices in (usually) the Middle - and Far - East!

What is more, the materials used to wrap all the presents (paper, plastic, "plastic-paper") all come from unsustainable practices (devastation of rain forests, etc., causing climate change and habitat loss, etc.) or paper-production, and to exploit near-slave labour!

The above is quite a long reply, but it's high time that action were taken!