What Good Can Come From "Black Friday"?

From an economic point of view "Black Friday"-- oh, and yes, it's going to be in quotes everytime because I can't take the name seriously; is a boon for business. Last year in the UK alone, 1 billion pounds was spent online. (For perspective £91 billion was spent online overall, in the UK) and statistically it is the biggest shopping event of the year... according to the BBC... whom you would expect to not be paid to say that.

However, economics and socio-economics are things I know very little about.

I wonder if "Black Friday" is beneficial to most businesses or if it's mostly an annual stride toward Amazon's monopolisation of every major market. I'd also like to know how sustainable a system, that encourages such ruthless consumerism, is on the other 364 days of the year. Alas, I don't have any answers or thoughts that would be considered meaningful to those who are in the know. Besides, I'm here to talk about the positives!

First of all I'd like to say that I work at a video game store in a shopping center in the UK. I didn't see any riots or old ladies being used as "queue shoes" with which to increase the savvy shopper's traction. It was horrendously busy but people were civil and, seemingly, aware of the ridiculousness of the situation they put themselves into. I asked everyone that came to talk to me in the store if saving however much money was worth the time they would spend in the queue. Maybe it is for some. Everyone I asked, however, left the store after our chat (with a smile on their face) and I didn't sell a damn thing.

Me Directing a Customer to the Deals

People buy stuff! I've tried drafting explanations for why this is the case, from the top down in an eloquent and and concise manner. I can't. The original sentence was "People like to buy stuff" but I'm not so sure how true that is either. It's a complicated sum.


It's Human Nature!
It could be that getting things is something that a human is wont to do. The economic system we live in and the overlap with an age of hefty disposable income certainly facilitates that behaviour.

However, if that were the case should we expect to see rationality in buying patterns? Sensible buying habits facilitate long term purchasing power but (with the aid of credit cards) we don't see that happen. The brain of some individuals sacrifices rationality for the purchasing of more stuff.

The reason that happens is because we aren't rational beings. A lot of people, given the chance, will eat until they are too fat to walk. Even more will ignore our most primal responsibilites if we were hooked up to a heroin machine.

The will to buy things can be somewhat equated to an addiction mechanism. But, wait! People eat all the time and stay healthy. Not everyone who drinks becomes an alcoholic. There must be something that "convinces" humans to go that extra mile beyond just buying groceries and quality, functionable clothes.

As well as my next big point it is worth mentioning that most people's disposable incomes are larger than they once were and credit cards allow us to go beyond the limits of our source-able money. This means that our brains have a greater chance to obtain momentum in the establishment of a behaviour. That is to say that the more we are able to buy the more we are able to reinforce the connections between synapses that represent that buying behaviour.


PAAAAVLOV!Is it a behaviour that is taught? We live in a world of increasingly complex advertising campaigns from companies whose profit margins rely solely on what you do with your money. Companies no longer advertise themselves on how good their wares are (if they ever really did) but instead try to hit you in the more primitive parts of your brain. Nostalgia, love, happiness.

"Three for two puppies!? What about your orphan children? Do they come with innocence?"

A product's aim is to become a part of your life; your identity. A picnic isn't a real picnic without coca-cola. You're not a person of status without a car. Define your particular status through scarcity i.e VW Polo to a Bentley Fancymobile.

Extrapolate the mechanism behind an individual's taught affinity with a particular brand, through an individual's association of "attainment"* (one example being a car) and it's not hard to see how the pursuit of things as an abstract concept can be ingrained and idealised by proxy- if not by intent.


It's Complicated.Whether it be through facilitation of buying power or increased pressure to buy, it is obvious that a consumerist culture can be damaging. People will work jobs they hate, to buy things that they believe will make them happy, because they feel they should. There is an expectation towards affluence and for the majority that is impossible by definition of the system. The economic culture we are born into creates different strata of wealth with the most populace being the poorest and then commands every strata to move up, beyond where they started.

The truth is that it's super complicated and blaming consumerism on the two highly simplified factors above isn't good enough. The answer(s) lie somewhere between the two as well as a bunch of other points that I'm not smart enough to know about. Unfortunately, my vast inability to provide a full and proper explanation on this topic is only barely surpassed by anyone's disinterest in a full and proper answer. So, I will continue.


A Conclusion
This is it! This is the section where I get to the main point that I alluded to in my click-bait title! What positive things can Black Friday teach us? Well...

A starkly horrible event can elucidate a certain artifact that was there all along, or validate the existence of a problem amongst the majority,

The sheer magnitude of death and pestilence in WWII (and to an extent, WWI) destroyed the notion of war being an honourable duty to your country. WWII arguably imbued a certain fearfulness in regards to nationalism in Western Europe. Though Britain is more culturally lenient on this matter, (I think having been deprived the true horrors of the war) I know people from other European countries that view their national flag at anywhere other than an embassy with a raised eyebrow.

War journalists and a free press showed an entire generation of Americans the ugly side of war by providing images from Vietnam. The ensuing, massive shift of public opinion was unprecedented, and much to the annoyance of some of the earliest critics of the war. Why couldn't people have exercised their empathy and come to feel that way before the proof of concept was available?

When Belgium and the Netherlands are underwater, Bangladesh needs somewhere else to live and there isn't enough space to grow food, more people will eventually come to extol the value of living more sustainably.

These awful things hold up a mirror to our actions and appropriately shock us into belief with the intuitive clarity of the image. In the riots of "Black Friday" I see something horrible. Something sinister and far reaching of which the participants seem oblivious.

Nonetheless, I also see hope in the faces of the people that are shocked and fearful of those that would break a jaw for a cheap Xbox. Their negative experience and consequential PTSD might form the foyer of the rabbit hole and in the discussion of their thoughts certain aspects of the world they live in may become apparent when, had they spent their time comfortably, could very well have gone unnoticed.


Hmm.
Yeah. I haven't particularly convinced myself, either. The "Good" in the title refers to a partial liberation from the desire to buy stuff. People have written books about why that might be a good thing. Perhaps I'm a dusty principled product of an upbringing closer in some respects to a post war upbringing. However, for all of my inability to argue intellectually I feel assured making the statement of, "If people are fighting for things that won't sustain their lives, something is amiss."

I suppose, really, that just shows that I would do better as a beatnik humanities student than as a scientist or designer.

Ah, well. If you made it this far: Well Done! I really am appreciative that you would take the time to read my stuff. Now, the internet is calling you away! Begone.

Josh.



*It could be obvious status posturing or something more abstract e.g. a bigger TV that most people won't see, and if they do, would be unlikely to ascribe to status, and more to fiscal progression... which I suppose is a sort of status... but not an in your face sort. Jesus... I have to think this stuff through.