Black Friday: the epitome of Western materialism

by davidcurtisgeorge

Consumers across the UK and USA swarmed to the shops yesterday, scrambling to get the best deals as ‘Black Friday’ took the Western world by storm.

Originating from the USA, Black Friday takes place the day after Thanksgiving (a day blessing the year’s harvest). It marks the start of the holiday shopping season, with the idea that Christmas is now rapidly approaching.

Many US states have public holidays on Black Friday, such as Florida, Ohio and New Mexico. However, as cultural globalisation takes hold and creates a ‘brand culture’, other countries, for example the United Kingdom, have now adopted Black Friday as well, despite not celebrating Thanksgiving.

In addition, Black Friday gives stores the opportunity to clear their stock before Christmas, by significantly lowering prices in order to increase the demand for their goods.

However, the results of this are quite shocking, as the following video demonstrates:

The video above depicts an ASDA supermarket opening its doors yesterday. As consumers frantically stormed the store, many people were pushed over and trampled on, forcing a security guard to intervene.

Manchester Police tweeted earlier in the day that “Two arrests have been made already” and warned shoppers to take more care. That being said, it would seem that with bargains on the line, the general public simply disregards the wellbeing and safety of other people.

Another woman had her wrist crushed, in an event which Greater Manchester Police’s Ian Hopkins described as “appalling“.

Materialism is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “a tendency to consider material possessions and physical comfort as more important than spirtual values.” What is meant by this is that people no longer tend to value themselves on their relationships and morals; this has been replaced by a desire to have the newest 3D TV, or be in the best paid job position.

Retailers have significant influence in this as well. With the main goal of maximising profits, they tactically manipulate the general public, revealing a limited stock and cut price, in order to generate what can only be described as panic from consumers. Of course, it is only natural for them to do this, but by autonomously changing the length of time these sales last for (initially it spanned an entire weekend) it has exaggerated Black Friday and its importance in Western culture.

But can anything realistically be done about this?

Firstly, consumers need to realise that Black Friday, especially in the UK, is not the Alpha and Omega of shopping deals. In the United States, it is more understandable due to its association with Thanksgiving, but since that is not a festival in the UK, it really lacks any purpose other than to generate hysteria. There are numerous other sales that occur in the run-up to the Christmas period; you don’t have to do all your Christmas shopping on Black Friday!

Secondly, retailers could rethink their sales strategy. Instead of having just one day of sales, perhaps have a weekend, or even an entire week, dedicated to a pre-Christmas sale. This would be more effective in clearing stock, and has the potential to skyrocket sales and, with the increase in aggregate demand, provide an annual short-term boost to the economy.

Unfortunately, both of these options are unrealistic; shoppers thrive off of the panic caused by sales, and retailers are typically hesitant to lower prices for an extended period of time.

Therefore, in conclusion, it would seem that cultural globalisation, stemming from the USA, has led to the creation of a day in the United Kingdom that should never have even existed. With the excessive violence and a callous disregard for other people, Black Friday brings out the selfish, materialistic nature of the general public. That being said, with an improving economy and UK adoption of the festival, things are only going to get worse.