Black Friday: bargains and protests

Shoppers around the world spent over $40 billion on Black Friday 2022.

The popular shopping day started in the US in the 1950s. It takes place the day after Thanksgiving and signals the beginning of Christmas gift shopping. Products are sold at lower prices than usual and other countries have adopted the tradition.

Online shopping rose sharply due to the pandemic. However, shoppers hunting for discounts are returning to New York's stores, now that Covid restrictions have passed. Although many worried that global price rises would affect spending habits, shopper Antonia Harris doesn't see it.

Antonia Harris: "With the holiday coming up, Christmas, the people are willing to spend ahead of themselves a little bit, to make sure they're having festivities. And in there, a sea of people coming in the door, oh my goodness, it doesn't look like anything slowed down, not even a little."

The New York Black Friday shopping experience sees many make long journeys in from out of state. Some just couldn't stop spending.

Samy Kunz: "I think it made us look for sales more so than we usually would, just to be conservative with how much we're spending."

Chase Moore: "Definitely more than usual!"

Chase Moore: "I have already spent way more that's in my budget. In grad school currently, so budget is like negative 300. So, we're, where, we've, we've already crossed that just by being in New York City."

Greenpeace protested against Black Friday's consumer culture in Madrid. Shoppers were alerted to the environmental damage. Their head of biodiversity, Celia Ojeda Martinez blames this on big brands.

Celia Ojeda Martinez: "What Greenpeace is denouncing here today is not so much the consumers, who also have a role to play, but the big brands and big companies that continue to produce products that are less and less durable, of lower quality, with toxic products that end up polluting because they end up incinerated and in landfills."

Greenpeace says big brands encourage shoppers to buy more than they need, which increases environmental damage.

Celia Ojeda Martinez: "Black Friday is about how brands encourage us to buy one more pair of jeans when we already have six exactly the same in our wardrobe. To produce one pair of jeans, it takes 7,500 liters of water, which is the same amount of water a person drinks and consumes for seven years."

Black Friday's popularity has seen the sales event lengthen. It lasts until 'Cyber Monday' and is quickly followed by December sales.

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