The good deal is made by those who manufacture and sell poor quality products under questionable social and environmental conditions, to the detriment of consumers.
A commercial tradition imported from the United States, Black Friday encourages retailers to offer discounted prices on the last Friday of November. This day, which has become the symbol of consumerism, is one of the days when people buy the most in the world.
Alors que le overshoot day, earlier and earlier each year, reminding us of the urgency of saving the planet's resources, it's time to move our (pretty) buttocks!
The latest IPCC report published last July once again alerts us to the urgency of a change in our lifestyles, our production methods and our consumption patterns if we want to limit climate change and slow the depletion of Earth's resources. Over-consumption has often devastating social and environmental consequences, but to fight against them, it is sometimes difficult for consumers to know where to start if they want to act on their own scale. This is why we must consume less, better and for that we must consume at the right price.
What is Green Friday? Eco-citizen event, activist collective, awareness day, Green Friday is a bit of all of this at the same time. Green Friday brings together associations and companies around the same ambition: promote responsible consumption and reasoned and give back the power to the consumer in the control of his act of purchase. In four years, Green Friday has become a large-scale popular event, a symbol of the fight against destructive overconsumption.
For Green Friday, GIGI PARIS will do 3 things:
1. REPORT:
Black Friday is a scam for the consumer, a torture for the manufacturer, a disaster for the planet.
FAKE PROMOTIONS ALERT! WE LIE TO YOU, WE TAKE YOU FOR HAMS
You think you are getting a good deal on Black Friday, you are wrong. The brands offer almost EXCLUSIVELY fake discount. The principle is simple but effective: artificially inflate the base price of a product to make it look like an important promotion. It is the UFC that choose who investigated and provided the (searchable) evidence of this "vast deception". She warned against "the many scams and fake promotions of Black Friday" calling the day a "NEST OF BODY PROMOTIONS". According to their calculations in 2019, the average sale prices on the main websites had down only 1,19% on the first day of Black Friday, very far from the 50 or 70% reduction displayed.
As part of the Anti-Waste Law, an amendment that equates advertisements for Black Friday or other coordinated business operations with deceptive business practices has been adopted, it is not respected. According to the UFC that to choose the main sites not respecting it are: Baker, Fnac, Rue du Commerce, Darty, Cdiscount, Rakuten.
So much for the consumer. But it's also a disaster for the manufacturer!
Overproducing by including Black Friday discounts has an impact on suppliers who need to lower their prices. The -70% on a new product cannot fairly remunerate the manufacturer.
The big winner, we understand, is the big name, but the big loser? No it's not the consumer, no it's not the manufacturer, it's the planet!
The heavy price paid by the environment
Black Friday pollutes. A lot. 22 million tonnes of CO2 emitted only through Black Friday online shopping. How it is possible ? Ben 2.5 million deliveries planned per day only in Paris for example (10 times more than usual), and as many single-use packaging! And guess what? 50% of packages will be returned.
The return of a parcel induces a doubling of the number of kilometers made by the delivery companies, while theurban freight already represents more than 20% of traffic and 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. More generally, trucks and vans alone emit 40% of the CO2 generated by road transport, reports Ademe.
On returned packages, and despite all the pollution deployed to make these returns, 30% will be destroyed, several German NGOs reported in 2018 after the testimony of former Amazon employees. It takes a lot of resources from merchants to repackage, to check if the product is still working, to put it back online, to send it back. ALL THAT FOR NOTHING.
In addition, to ensure the rapid dispatch and return of these parcels, the storage warehouses are multiplying on the outskirts of cities (+200% since the beginning of the 2000s according to the France Nature Environment association, therefore actively participating in thesoil artificialization and urban sprawl. In all, 20 million square meters are occupied by logistics warehouses in Ile-de-France, representing a quarter of the French housing stock!" underlines the FNE. If you haven't understood, warehouses replace gardens , the countryside, the trees, the plants. But that way you get lots of parcels that are useless, nice! They probably contribute to the increase in rental prices, for the most down-to-earth people.
Please tell us that it's not just us that shocked us?
2. RAISING AWARENESS
DO YOU WANT CHANGE? THEN YOU WANT TO CHANGE! WE WILL HELP YOU <3
EVERYONE, committed or not, can make a small gesture. We will give you simple, concrete ideas that are easy to implement in everyday life. To become the best consumer, we invite you to refer to the following:
- 🇬🇧 Geow product: promote made in near me
- 🌱 Organic product: opt for organic products
- ♻️ Ecolow products: pay attention to materials beyond perishable products and energy consumption
- 🧵 Bricow product : doing it yourself is so cool! we are a DIY fan
- 🕶 Retro products : buy second hand, buy upcycled, and give or resell!
- 🔬Microw product : promote small traders, those you know
Always mega bow <3
To help you, we share a guide on our instagram, where we list the ethical and sustainable alternatives of GIGI PARIS. The most beautiful, coolest products, brands and initiatives, but always respectful of the planet and its people. We will complete them by listing the players in solidarity repair & reuse in France, alternatives to purchasing, etc.
We have also created a mapstr, which will help you find these places easily! The mapstr GIGI PARIS
Together, we say yes to alternatives that benefit everyone. Yes to a choice of eco-responsible raw materials. Yes to a fair wage for all. Yes to more local and organic production. Yes to production and consumption for which you define the rules.
YES for second hand, repair, use, recycling.
Together, let's give ourselves a chance. Focus on responsible brands. Let's buy second hand products. Let's fix the products that can be repaired. Give away what we no longer use. Let's recycle products and give them a second life.
Let us positively encourage those around us to do the same.
Every gesture, no matter how small and simple, can make a difference. Because there is no small gesture when there are 7 billion doing them.
3. ACT
NO DISCOUNT WITH US! We practice fair prices throughout the year.
- We can't do -70% because at -70 we are largely in negative! Indeed, unlike fast fashion brands, we buy our products or materials at the right price and we pay the people we work with correctly.
- We do not destock because we have no stock. Because the stock is an absurd concept. We produce according to your requests and we co-create with you so that the products please you and that you keep them as long as possible.
- Like all the rest of the year, our shipments will be decarbonized, that is, we offset our carbon footprint.
A SOLIDARITY EFFORT WITH OTHER ETHICAL BRANDS THAT PRACTICE GREEN FRIDAY: we will donate 10% of our turnover for the day to the benefit of the associations involved France Nature Environment.
