The best anti-Black Friday campaigns from brands that matter
5 minute read / by Courtney Paynter
Black Friday takes place on 25th November this year and brands have already started slashing prices. But some brands are taking a stand against the discount extravaganza. From giving away valuable retail space to website closures, we’ve rounded up our favourite anti-Black Friday campaigns for you to take inspiration from.
The more popular Black Friday has become, the more devasting its impact. Let’s all cast our minds back to past scenes of customers fighting in shops over TVs. Not pretty.
And then there are the effects on the planet. A report by money.co.uk last year estimated that online shopping on Black Friday 2021 could release around 386,243 tonnes of carbon emissions. Although this was less than in 2020, that amount of carbon emissions still equates to over 215 flights taken between London and Sydney in just one day.
But then arguably the most depressing part of Black Friday is the fact that it reduces products down to worthless items: something that’s bought because it’s cheap but can be thrown away later. It removes the need for care and consideration found in the ethos, ‘do I really need this?’—and it’s the opposite of the sustainability narrative that’s become so ubiquitous in recent years.
But it’s not all doom and gloom!
Black Friday takes over every year without fail. But over the last few years, it’s become increasingly synonymous with brands who refuse to devalue what they do with such extreme sales.
Thankfully, an increasing number of brands are taking a stand against Black Friday—and gaining some pretty epic exposure along the way. Brands large and small across all sectors are starting to do this as societal focus on sustainability grows. But environmentally purpose-driven brands got there first, and they’re causing a ripple that’s becoming hard for consumers to ignore.
To celebrate this shift, we’ve rounded up our favourite Black Friday campaigns launched by some of our favourite ethical brands, and taken a closer look at how these campaigns showcase each brand’s purpose whilst fighting an important cause.
Here are some brilliant alternative approaches to Black Friday from brands we love.
Haeckels
This year, natural skincare brand Haeckels is giving up their retail spaces in London and Margate “to smaller brands with big ambitions.” Brands, people, and artists that are “making a difference, pushing boundaries and creating change” can apply to showcase their wares on Haeckels’ shelves.
Haeckels aims to be an “amplifier of the natural world and community problem solver”. By offering up its shelves to environmentally friendly brands and local artists, Haeckels is bringing its brand purpose to life, strengthening its connection with existing customers and the local community and reaching new ones with a positive story that brings them fame for all the right reasons.
RÆBURN
On Black Friday last year, RÆBURN disabled their online shop and gave over their Carnaby store to Responsible — a second-life streetwear clothing platform.
The brand’s “RÆMADE, RÆDUCED, RÆCYCLED” ethos champions environmentally friendly ways to make clothing by reworking surplus fabrics and garments, reducing waste, and recycling fabrics where possible.
By disabling their online store and giving up their retail space to Responsible, RÆBURN made noise for their brand using the Black Friday hype without making any new clothing and gave an important cause the airtime it deserves.
Finisterre
Last year, Finisterre turned Black Friday blue. Rather than offering discounts, for every order placed, they made a donation to customise or gift their wetsuits to those who “face barriers accessing the sea.” They raised £14,120 for the Finisterre Foundation Wetsuit Project.
As well as taking a stand against over-consumption by refusing to offer hefty discounts to their customers, this anti-Black-Friday campaign also brought attention to the important work Finisterre does to bring everyone closer to the ocean and its extraordinary benefits. In true Finisterre style, they stuck to their brand values and used the event to continue working on their mission.
ALOHAS
Sustainable shoe brand ALOHAS are taking a stand against Black Friday this year by offering “rewards” rather than “discounts” to tackle overproduction. With ALOHAS, you get “up to 50% reward for supporting the on-demand system” by pre-ordering shoes.
ALOHAS takes the Black Friday “buy, buy, buy” ethos and turns it to “wait, wait, wait.” This is the perfect way to advertise their pre-order system, which allows them to accurately forecast demand levels before production, so they only make the number of shoes they think they’re going to sell and dramatically reduce waste. They’re jumping on the Black Friday trend to transform the fashion>sale cycle in the name of slow fashion and responsible shopping.
Freitag
Bag-maker Freitag is joining an army of sustainable brands working to change Black Friday “from a shopping to a swapping day.” Not only do they close their online store on Black Friday, but they redirect their website to their S.W.A.P. bag exchange platform.
They are reclaiming Black Friday as their own and encouraging swapping and shopping second-hand along the way
Vivo Barefoot
Natural footwear brand Vivo Barefoot is asking people to give the planet a break this Black Friday and check out their reconditioned footwear instead. If anyone goes looking for a Vivo Black Friday discount, you’ll instead find their ReVivo page with a powerful statement: “adding to the 22 billion pairs of footwear that are thrown away each year won’t be our legacy.”
ReVivo is their recommerce site that reconditions old Vivo’s for resale. In the future, they’re aiming to launch a full repair service and a chance to barefoot your favourite shoes, whatever brand they are.
Patagonia
The original Black Friday disrupter… You probably think of Patagonia as soon as you hear about anti-Black-Friday campaigns.
The “Don’t Buy This Jacket” ad that they ran in The New York times on Black Friday on 2011 has become synonymous with the brand, and cleverly draws attention to its ethos of “buy less and buy more thoughtfully”.
By admitting that “everything we make takes something from the planet we can’t give back” they draw attention to over-consumerism while acknowledging the fact that they themselves are a brand that makes clothes, but that together, we can do better. The campaign was designed to encourage people to join their Common Threads initiative, now known as Worn Wear.
Each of these brands uses Black Friday to push the brand story behind their products rather than the products themselves and to shine a light on great causes or important stories. We’re proud to work with so many brands who put incredible time and effort into the products they create, and we understand the devastation of watching a product go out the door for 10% of its RRP. It would be better if Black Friday didn’t exist, BUT for as long as it does we’ll be championing those who choose to stand against it and the people who choose those brands too.
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