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Black Friday bargain? It comes with a high planetary and human cost

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Dr Roland Ngam is programme manager for climate justice and socioecological transformation at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Southern Africa. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

We need to rethink big sales days like Black Friday – very often we are pouring millions of rands into the pockets of predators who exploit workers in sweatshops in countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, India and Sri Lanka. Our addiction to gadgets is funding wars in the eastern DRC.

After a timid start a few years ago, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have caught on in South Africa. However, we have to ask ourselves whether it is okay to keep splurging on shiny new objects that do not do much for us or our communities? Shouldn’t we be doing sales events differently?

Mudiwa Gavaza reports in the 7 December 2020 edition of Business Day that payment gateway Whoosh saw a 227% rise in business transactions around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. About 95% of transactions on its platform were settled with bank cards. The biggest sellers were fashion items and liquor. Although there was a 52% decline compared with 2019 when seven million Black Friday weekend transactions brought in R6-billion, 2020 still saw a tidy R2.9-billion in turnover from 4.7 million individual transactions. Business Insider reports the number of transactions at just under six million, although it also scored the event as a flop. Elsewhere in the world, Singles Day sales topped $115-billion in Asia, and in the US, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales hit $23-billion.

It is easy to see why sales dropped for Black Friday and Cyber Monday in South Africa. The country is in a difficult place with only 37.5% of the 39.2 million people aged 15 to 64 in work. More than three million people lost their jobs in 2020 due to Covid-19, a further 1.4 million were furloughed and lockdown restrictions caused the economy to contract by as much as 51% in the second quarter.  

A drop in sales for these events is not necessarily a bad thing. For once, thanks in great part to Covid-19 restrictions, in-store experiences were fairly sober and controlled. We were not treated to the upsetting spectacle of customers fighting over toilet paper and tins of Ricoffy while store attendants had a good chuckle in the background.

Now here’s the thing: through big sale events, the entire nation is often roped, consciously or unconsciously, into mindless consumerism in which we borrow to buy things we don’t need, and in the process, we thoroughly trash the planet. Splurging on new clothes made in faraway places, a new gadget or the latest iteration of a mobile phone brand does not do much for South Africa. The millions of kilograms of cotton and electronics that we gather along the way have a cost. Very often, we are pouring millions of rands into the pockets of predators who exploit workers in sweatshops in countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, India and Sri Lanka. Our addiction to gadgets is also funding wars in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

This sobering moment we are going through should give us pause to reconsider why and how we shop on Black Friday and on other days for that matter. While it is okay to import exciting traditions from other nations, and while it is also okay to enjoy some shopping therapy every now and then, we should also give these events some meaning.

My most fervent wish is for big sales events such as Valentine’s Day, Black Friday, Singles’ Day, Cyber Monday and so on to prioritise local businesses. We should prioritise the short value chains we know over extremely long and faceless ones that locate production in poor communities around the world in a major profit-maximisation and concealment effort. We should always be conscious of the consequences of our actions on the planet and on our fellow humans.

On Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we should go the extra mile to buy a book from the local bookstore, visit a gallery and buy a painting, have a photo framed, buy some art from street artists or go to a craft gin market.

We should visit and support our farmers, patronise groups such as the Victoria Yards and the Philippi Horticultural project, buy handicrafts, earthenware pots, maXhosa masks, flowers and beaded curtains.

We should visit small-town South Africa and try the local cuisine, take some language lessons, hire a personal trainer and so on. Putting money into your community has numerous economic multipliers. It creates jobs, leads to more thriving businesses and increases the general socioeconomic and financial well-being of all community members. 

Big business can also play a part. Why not add a R5 or R10 markup on every transaction over the Black Friday weekend to go to charities, schools, small businesses, playgrounds, hospitals and community centres? When small businesses prosper, the base of people who can afford the goods and services sold by big businesses grows. Right now, the vast majority of South Africans simply cannot afford what is on sale on Black Fridays, even after the discounts. The private sector can play a bigger and more deliberate role in lifting more people out of poverty.  

And while we’re at it, let’s also adopt and invest in some of the big international events that drive money to charities.  

Like Giving Tuesday. This is the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving when people contribute to charity and good causes. It was introduced by the United Nations Foundation and the 92nd Street Y in New York in 2012. In 2020, donations surpassed $600-million within 24 hours and should hit $1-billion by Christmas. 

Like the Télethon. Created in France in 1987, this annual event, which is held in early December, raises money for muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cancer and other rare genetic conditions. For 30 hours, all of France, parts of Switzerland, Luxembourg and other countries mobilise to raise funds. This year’s Télethon raised R1-billion. 

Wouldn’t it be great to have all media outlets in South Africa dedicate 48 hours every year to coordinate a national effort that drives customers to small businesses and donations to charities? DM

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