Black Friday sales have decreased significantly this year in comparison to last year. According to the National Retail Federation, total spending was expected to reach $50.9 billion. This is in comparison to last year’s estimated $57.4 billion.
Several causes have been cited, including earlier deals, a better economy, and the appeal of Cyber Monday. Another possible cause would be the boycotts that occurred during the Black Friday event.
Many people are unaware that the boycotts even took place, and this is because there has been only a handful of reports on them.
The initial organizers of the boycotts claim to be staging them in order to protest the Michael Brown incident, and police brutality in general.
While at first there appears to be no correlation between the Ferguson incident and Black Friday, the originators have a clear reasoning for targeting the event.
These boycotts were meant to redirect money flow in order to “fight the powers that be”, said Ryan Coogler in an interview with CNN Wire.
Coogler is the director of a police brutality film, “Fruitvale Station”. The film follows a young man who becomes the victim of police brutality. While the plot is fictional, it bases itself around several real incidents.
By targeting large corporations during a popular, nationwide event, these boycotts should have made more of an impact in the news. Yahoo! news, the New York Times, and CBS news are amongst the only news sources that originally reported the boycott.
There should have been far more coverage on the boycotts, because it would have helped bring to light the ongoing issue of police brutality in our nation. Social media has shown hints that the boycotts may continue into the Christmas season.
Protesters such as Shaun Abreu, a graduate of Columbia University, put on Twitter that, “the media is straight up downplaying the impact #BoycottBlackFriday had on the 11% decrease in sales. Let’s take it through Christmas then.”
A boycott during the Christmas shopping season would have more supporters, and could cause another disruption in sales.
The protesters should continue on into the holiday seasons, because police brutality is an ongoing issue.
