PRESS STATEMENT: BLACK FRIDAY AND BUY-NOTHING-DAY FROM A SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE

Erfurt, November 25, 2021. 26 November is Black Friday, in the environment of which, according to the German Retail Association (HDE), 27 percent more sales are to be achieved than in 2020 - i.e. around 4.9 billion euros. The discount battle is followed by Buy Nothing Day on November 27. The Canadian artist Ted Dave created it in 1992 as a protest action. Consumption and consumer abstinence collide. Prof. Dr. Julia Pitters, professor of Business Psychology at IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU), is currently researching the topic and said:

"Buy Nothing Day and Black Friday both have their justification - one is important from an ecological point of view, the other helps struggling retailers. Black Friday is particularly popular with two very contrasting groups: the 'digitized generation' of under-29s and the over-60s 'analog bargain hunters' who prefer to pay cash. The Buy Nothing Day, on the other hand, calls for conscious consumer restraint. Everyone should buy only what is needed, thus protecting the environment. In contrast to Black Friday, Buy Nothing Day is geared toward long-term rethinking and leads, for example, to ideas such as the sharing economy. The danger lies in the polarization of positions that we are currently seeing in very many areas of life. Crises like Corona are even intensifying this tendency. Depending on whether the crisis is perceived as an opportunity or a threat, purchasing behavior, for example, becomes more risk-averse or more cautious. In this context, extremization can be observed in a wide variety of social fields."

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