What Happened to Black Friday?
It’s officially the holiday season, and every company in my inbox sounds like Oaken from Frozen.
“Yoohoo, big summer blowout!”
The second Halloween ends, emails about pre-Black Friday sales flood my inbox. These major corporations proudly brag about giving “VIP” customers 25% off their orders in exclusive deals before the “big day.”
But who really are these “exclusive” customers, if everyone who's signed up for a company’s marketing list gets the same. exact. offer.
Long gone are the days when stampedes of customers plow down employees at any retailer due to the outrageously low prices on appliances and clothing.
The term “Black Friday” was coined in Philadelphia in the 1950s to describe the intense influx of people into the city to begin holiday shopping and attend the Army vs. Navy football game. In the 80s, the term was reappropriated to describe the day when companies' yearly profits shifted from being in the red (suffering losses) to being in the black (making a profit).
Now, corporations are determined to increase profits each quarter. With inflation rising 3% in the last year alone, corporations have tightened their purses and forced consumers to take crowbars to their wallets.
Where previously, Black Friday made a year’s worth of profits in one day, companies have now begun interspersing sales throughout the year. We, as a society, have lost the concept of what a sale is.
Many goods are sold at the highest price a consumer is willing to pay for the good without alienating a large part of a brand’s consumer base. The frequent “sales” on goods bring the price down to some of the lowest prices a company is willing to charge while still making a large enough profit. Consumers see 25-30% off sales and believe that they are getting a good deal. However, major corporations previously inflated the prices to “afford” selling them at a lower price.
A prime example of this is Aerie/American Eagle. If you walk into any mall in America, there will most likely be a sale at Aerie. No matter what time of year, non-clearance goods almost always have a sale tag affixed to their racks.
Aerie leggings are priced around the mid-range of the market, retailing for about $40-55 for leggings that begin to pill after 3 wears and often have a hole after the first 3 months. If you think that price is egregious, don’t worry. You will almost always find them marked down in stores to a price that seems more in line with the quality of the garment.
But Aerie is not the exception; they are just one piece of the larger corporate puzzle. Our consumerist society is being brainwashed by retailers to constantly purchase, and Black Friday is losing all meaning in the process.
