Introduction
It is worth noting that Black Friday has become one of the important days of the year when a large percentage of citizens go shopping because of the sales that stores offer. The main goal of retailers on this day is to vacate their warehouses while buyers try to purchase as many commodities as possible at the lowest price. As a rule, on Black Friday, customers can buy gadgets, clothes, and other goods with discounts up to 90% (Tate 149). Even though such an offer seems quite attractive for both buyers and suppliers, the tactic of selling has become uncontrolled. The purpose of this paper is to provide arguments supporting the position that the marketing of Black Friday has become unethical.
Argumentation
One of the main arguments proving that the marketing of Black Friday has become uncontrolled is the fact that ads are developed to promote violent and inadequate behavior of customers (Lindstrom 208). Also, commercials encourage people to queue for hours to make their purchases. In recent years, multiple ads displaying people waiting for their turn to enter a shop, which will be opened late at night have been created. Such depictions encourage consumers to employ certain behaviors and model-specific shopping techniques (Lamb et al. 762). Therefore, such marketing strategies are aimed at affecting the psychology of buyers.
Also, there have been multiple cases when people were hurt on Black Friday because other customers were violent. Ads promoting this event tend to impose a belief that such insanity should be considered the norm. Despite the aggressive behavior employed by many people on Black Friday, the majority of individuals are ready to tolerate harassment to be able to purchase discounted commodities (Leonard). Importantly, these factors have also resulted in the fact that people prefer going shopping instead of celebrating Thanksgiving together with their family members. Therefore, it can be assumed that marketing has encouraged a shift in the value system of people.
Apart from that, the marketing of Black Friday pushes people to make purchases that they do not need. Marketers use particular psychological strategies to ensure that customers will stand in line to buy a commodity because of its low price. Such practices stimulate “marketing-driven commodity fetishism”, which also causes violence but helps retailers make profits (Leonard). Since the main aim of shops is to sell as much as possible to empty their warehouses, they are ready to employ any marketing strategy that will stimulate purchases.
Counter Argument
Nevertheless, Black Friday can provide customers with specific benefits, which can be achieved through effective marketing. For instance, customers receive an opportunity to purchase items such as smartphones and other expensive goods, which they usually cannot afford to buy (Hasen 89). On this day, the majority of retailers offer their products at the cost lower than the recommended retail price (Davidson). Therefore, the main advantage of this event is the fact that clients save their money while retailers can vacate their warehouses through effective advertising.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that the marketing of Black Friday is a controversial issue. On the one hand, the event provides customers with an opportunity to purchase goods at decent prices. On the other hand, marketing strategies employed by companies stimulate the inadequate behavior of people and result in unreasonable consumerism. Therefore, it can be assumed that marketers should refine their approaches to ensure they do not change the value system of people while customers should be able to rationalize their choices and behavior.
Works Cited
Davidson, Lauren. “Black Friday Deals: Worth the Fuss or Marketing Gimmick?”The Telegraph, 2015, Web.
Hasen, Jeff. Mobilized Marketing: How to Drive Sales, Engagement, and Loyalty Through Mobile Devices. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
Lamb, Charles W., et al. Marketing. 12th ed., Cengage Learning, 2012.
Leonard, Andrew. “Black Friday: Consumerism minus civilization”. Salon. 2011, Web.
Lindstrom, Martin. Small Data: The Tiny Clues That Uncover Huge Trends. St. Martin’s Press, 2016.
Tate, Carolyn. Conscious Marketing: How to Create an Awesome Business with a New Approach to Marketing. John Wiley & Sons, 2015.