Opinion Essay - Ana Gozálvez

Black Friday

Who has not heard about Black Friday at least once in their life? It is extremely frequent to watch Black Friday publicity on TV or see it when you go to a shopping centre during November, but, is this necessary? Is it a good idea for shop owners to offer large discounts before Christmas?
First of all, I believe that this day is not necessary for our lives. Although you may get some good discounts, most of the times you buy things you do not require. It is indeed a new form of consumerism.
Secondly, I think people feel attracted to buy during Black Friday because of the discounts, not because of whether they need or they do not need the product. Also, the fact that Christmas comes very soon also makes costumers feel more inclined into buying.
At this point, it has become almost an obligation to take advantage of this discounts, and businesses also take advantage of that; some even trick the buyers into believing they have lowered the price of a product when they have left it the same or even have increased it!
If people only buy what they need during that day, the businesses would not win as much money as they do! This clearly benefits the businesses, because, despite the fact of the existence of discounts, they sell way more products than any other day of the year. As a result, Black Friday is not good for the locals business who have to keep up with the very competitive discounts that globalized businesses apply during that day.
To sum up, I feel like Black Friday is a new form of consumerism which benefits globalized businesses and damages local businesses. It is a form of publicity created to engage the consumers into participating in it, and we could perfectly live without this day.