Under the motto of “Time to make a difference”, Undiemeister®️ issued a statement in 2020 about Black Friday sales. Black Friday is a phenomenon that has been imported from the US, and refers to the day after Thanksgiving. The “scholars” don't really agree on how Black Friday came to be. It varies from a stock market crash on Friday, 24 September 1869, to the start of Christmas shopping, right after Thanksgiving. That was the day on which the shopkeepers would write black figures.
Black Friday is a discount festival in the Netherlands
But we don't even celebrate Thanksgiving in the Netherlands, and we don't start our Christmas shopping until after 5 December, our Sinterklaas holiday. Black Friday is actually an adopted excuse by retailers to attract as many customers as possible to the stores. And, as you probably understand, discounts will always do the job. That's fair enough, but Black Friday has become crazier year after year in the Netherlands. People are chomping at the bit outside the shops early in the morning and snatch bargains from each other once they're in. You could say every man for himself and God for us all. It doesn't look good and is certainly not an expression of mutual solidarity.
Some are on the sidelines
Not everyone can take part in this buying frenzy, even if they wanted to. They would be happy if they just have a roof over their heads. Now and again. No means to buy all sorts of stuff that, let's face it, no one really needs. In this sense, the “struggle” to obtain all kinds of nonsense items contrasts rather sharply with the struggle for basic necessities that others face. Like the need of the homeless.
Noblesse Oblige (privilege entails responsibility)
Not that Undiemeister regard themselves as nobility, but Noblesse Oblige actually means: if you are better off, you have a moral duty to help. And Undiemeister® has done that, by giving a free pair of boxer shorts to the homeless shelter for every order. When you help, you do what you can. In our case, that is providing beautiful, clean underwear. It would be fantastic if other parties, based on their competence or specialty, would also do something similar. Together we can change Black Friday from giving a discount to giving support. We think that that will make you feel much better than scoring a cheap trinket. So here too, it's a win/win.