Black Friday promotes overconsumption – Marquette Wire

Report on the Conflict Between Black Friday Consumption Patterns and Sustainable Development Goals

Introduction: Overconsumption vs. Global Sustainability

The retail event known as Black Friday promotes a model of mass consumption that presents significant challenges to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through aggressive marketing, the event encourages purchasing behaviors that have detrimental environmental and social impacts, directly undermining key global sustainability targets.

Analysis of Consumption Drivers and Economic Scale

Marketing Tactics and Consumer Behavior

Retailers employ several psychological marketing tactics during Black Friday to stimulate impulsive and excessive purchasing, which runs counter to the principles of sustainable consumption. These methods include:

• Flash Sales: These create a sense of urgency, reducing rational decision-making time and leveraging the psychological concept of loss aversion.
• Exaggerated Discounts: The presentation of sales often misleads consumers into believing they are achieving greater savings than they are, encouraging bulk purchases.
• Atmospheric Manipulation: The strategic use of music, such as nostalgic or calming songs, is employed to relax customers and encourage prolonged, higher-value spending.

The scale of this consumption is substantial. In 2024, an estimated 169 million shoppers participated, with online sales reaching $10.8 billion, indicating a widespread pattern of high-volume consumption.

Direct Conflicts with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

Black Friday’s core premise is fundamentally at odds with SDG 12. The event actively encourages a linear “take-make-dispose” economic model rather than a circular one. It promotes the acquisition of items without regard for necessity, leading to increased resource depletion, production-related pollution, and a significant rise in post-consumer waste.

Environmental Impacts (SDG 13 & SDG 15)

The overconsumption fueled by Black Friday has severe environmental consequences that impede progress on critical SDGs:

• SDG 13: Climate Action: The lifecycle of products purchased—from manufacturing and global transportation to eventual disposal in landfills—generates substantial greenhouse gas emissions, contributing directly to climate change.
• SDG 15: Life on Land: Increased demand for goods accelerates resource extraction, deforestation for agriculture, and infrastructure development. This leads to widespread habitat loss, a primary driver of biodiversity decline and animal extinction.

Social and Well-being Implications (SDG 3)

The intense focus on materialism can also have negative social outcomes. The prioritization of material acquisition over social connections can foster isolation and weaken community bonds, impacting the mental well-being targets outlined in SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being.

Pathways to Sustainable Alternatives

The Green Friday Movement and Mindful Consumption

As a counter-movement, “Green Friday” offers an alternative that aligns with SDG 12. It encourages consumers to support eco-friendly businesses, repair existing items, or refrain from shopping entirely. This initiative promotes a shift from excessive spending to mindful consumption, highlighting the importance of sustainability in purchasing decisions.

Recommendations for Aligning with SDGs

While sales events can offer opportunities for acquiring necessary items at a lower cost, a conscious approach is required to mitigate negative impacts. To better align with the SDGs, consumers can adopt the following practices:

1. Resist marketing tactics by making purchasing decisions based on need rather than impulse.
2. Prioritize durable, high-quality products from sustainable and ethical businesses.
3. Support initiatives like Green Friday that champion responsible consumption.
4. Consider the entire lifecycle of a product before purchasing, including its environmental and social footprint.

Conclusion

The consumption model promoted by Black Friday is unsustainable and directly conflicts with the objectives of SDGs 12, 13, and 15. The environmental and social costs associated with this event necessitate a fundamental shift in consumer behavior towards more mindful and responsible consumption patterns. Fostering this change is essential for making meaningful progress on the global sustainability agenda.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in the Article

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

  This is the most central SDG to the article. The entire piece critiques the “overconsumption” promoted by Black Friday, where “shoppers race through malls with loads of bags on their arms.” It directly addresses unsustainable patterns of consumption and advocates for “mindful consumption” and alternatives like “Green Friday,” which aligns perfectly with the goal of ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns.

• SDG 13: Climate Action

  The article explicitly connects overconsumption to climate change. It states that environmentally, overconsumption “can lead to long-term effects of climate change from the release of hot gases into the atmosphere.” This directly links the consumption habits discussed to the urgent need for climate action.

• SDG 15: Life on Land

  The article highlights the impact of overconsumption on terrestrial ecosystems. It mentions that the production required to meet high consumer demand leads to “pollution from factories and habitat loss for agriculture and infrastructure, which is a primary factor in animal extinction.” This addresses the core concerns of SDG 15 regarding biodiversity loss and habitat degradation.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

1. SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

   • Target 12.5: By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse. The article’s main argument against Black Friday is that it encourages “purchasing cheap, unnecessary items,” which contributes directly to waste generation. The call to “fight against the marketing tactics and make sound decisions about purchases” is a call for waste prevention.
   • Target 12.8: By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature. The article itself serves this purpose by informing readers about the negative impacts of overconsumption and promoting alternatives like “Green Friday,” which “encourages customers to buy from eco-friendly businesses or none at all.”

2. SDG 13: Climate Action

   • Target 13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning. The article contributes to this target by raising awareness among consumers about how their purchasing decisions (“overconsumption”) lead to “the release of hot gases into the atmosphere,” thereby linking individual actions to climate change.

3. SDG 15: Life on Land

   • Target 15.5: Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species. The article directly relates consumption patterns to this target by stating that overconsumption leads to “habitat loss for agriculture and infrastructure, which is a primary factor in animal extinction.”

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

The article does not mention official SDG indicators, but it provides specific data points and describes effects that can serve as proxy indicators to measure the scale of the problem:

• Consumer Participation Rate: The article states, “169 million shoppers participated in either in-person or online shopping on Black Friday in 2024.” This figure can be used as an indicator to track the prevalence of mass consumption events. A decrease over time could indicate a shift towards more responsible consumption (Target 12.8).
• Consumer Spending Volume: The text mentions that “online shoppers spent $10.8 billion on sales in 2024.” This monetary value is a direct indicator of the economic scale of consumption. Tracking this figure can help measure progress towards reducing overconsumption (Target 12.5).
• Implied Environmental Indicators: The article implies several environmental indicators by discussing the consequences of overconsumption. These include:
  • Greenhouse gas emissions (“release of hot gases into the atmosphere”) (Target 13.3).
  • Levels of industrial pollution (“pollution from factories”) (Target 15.5).
  • Rate of habitat loss and biodiversity decline (“habitat loss for agriculture and infrastructure” and “animal extinction”) (Target 15.5).

4. Create a table with three columns titled ‘SDGs, Targets and Indicators” to present the findings from analyzing the article.

Source: marquettewire.org