- Carbon emissions generated from Black Friday online sales alone are the equivilaent to 215 flights from London to Sydney - that's 400,000 tonnes of carbon.
- Up to 80% of Black Friday purchases are thrown after just one use.
- 89% of shoppers say that Black Friday sales are highly stressful.
It’s forecasted that Brits will spend upward of £9 billion on deals over the Black weekend. Whilst it’s expected that spending will be around 8% less than in 2021 due to the cost-of-living crisis, Black Friday still sees a huge over consumption of unsustainable purchases.
And,let's face it Black Friday is overwhelming, how many emails have been flooded into your inbox already?!
So what do we do instead?
We support small businesses where we can that's what! Holly Tucker founder of Not On The Highstreet and Holly&Co founded Colour Friday last year as an alternative to Black Friday.
It's a day where consumers are encouraged to shop with independent businesses for their Christmas gifts. The campaign is an appeal to #votewithyourmoney for the kind of world you want to live in.
Holly Tucker founder of Not On The Highstreet and Holly&Co
What can you do to get involved?
There are lots of different ways you can get involved!
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Shop locally and independently, choose gifts that are unique, ones that aren't massed produced and made with care and love.
- Choose quality over quantity, rather than buying huge amounts of presents for your loved ones, buy less but better quality. Buy gifts that are made to last.
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Shout about your favourite small businesses - you might not be in a position to buy from them but exposure can do wonders. By telling your friends and family, through word of mouth or on social media about shops you love it may open the door to those who can.
- Encourage small businesses you follow, even something as small as kind words or a like/comment on posts can help small businesses especially with the ever changing Instagram/Facebook algorithm.
This year, alongside thousands of other small businesses Doodling Lucy as a business is standing alongside Holly and pledging to support small and independent businesses.
Because let's face it, Amazon is going to be just fine without more sales based on Black Friday discounts, but that little, fun corner shop at the end of your road which is run by a family? Well they might not make it through the festive period without us.
Thank you as always for your continued support,
Lucy x
Exclusive artwork Created by David Newton.