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Blackout Black Friday logo depicting a price tag with the movement's name.

Black Friday Blackout

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Updated Nov 23, 2021 at 04:56PM EST by Zach.

Added Nov 23, 2021 at 11:45AM EST by Owen.

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Overview

Black Friday Blackout, also known as Buy Nothing Day, refers to a mass protest campaign that centers on the organization of customer and worker strikes on Black Friday. This is due to the movement's perceived unfair wages and hours imposed on workers, as well as inspired by growing concerns surrounding Late Capitalism. The first "Black Friday Blackout" was held in 2014, but the concept was further popularized on Reddit in October 2021 within the /r/Antiwork subreddit and movement.

History

Black Friday strikes have been prevalent in the United States since 2014. On November 28th, 2014, "Black Friday Blackout" protests happened in New York City, where many protestors organized outside of Macy's Mall of America. A video of this protest was uploaded to YouTube[1] on November 29th by the channel VeganMotorcyclePilot (shown below, left). YouTube[2] channel WeAreChange uploaded a video on November 28th, 2021, of arrests being made in New York during the protests. Their video (shown below, right) received roughly 13,200 views over the course of seven years.



In 2015, Black Friday strikes occurred again. Shown below is a YouTube[3] video posted on November 28th, 2015, by the channel Naomi Ishisaka of a protest happening in Seattle, Washington.



Antiwork Campaign

On October 21st, 2021, mods of Reddit's /r/Antiwork[4] subreddit made a post titled, "ANTIWORK MEGATHREAD: BLACKOUT BLACK FRIDAY." The post detailed how customers shouldn't shop during Black Friday 2021 to stand in solidarity with workers who can't take off from their jobs in fear of being fired. The post (shown below) received roughly 14,000 upvotes over the course of one month. It also linked Redditors to the newly created /r/BlackFridayBlackout[5] subreddit, which was created on October 29th, 2021, as well as to a website for the movement, called blackfridayblackout.info.[6]


A Posted by u/Kilgore_Of_Trout Profit is theft 1 month ago 17 28 27 13 3 4 VOTE 9 14.0k ANTIWORK MEGATHREAD: BLACKOUT BLACK FRIDAY At the request of the community, the mod team wants to support individuals who participate in Blackout Black Friday for the hospitality and retail sectors. These sectors have long been underpaid, under appreciated, and overworked. Workers in these sectors that choose to withhold their labor should do so with the possibility of losing their job in mind. In solidarity with these workers, consumers should withhold their purchasing power from employers that choose to open for this day. This thread is for individuals to brainstorm, discuss mutual aid, and ways in which this event could be impactful. Also, artist are encouraged to submit antiwork art and possible alternates to the sub logo. More info at: https://www.blackfridayblackout.info/ Be sure to head over to r/blackfridayblackout as well A Tip 1446 Comments + Award Share Save Hide Report 99% Upvoted

On November 10th, 2021, Redditor DearOfTheWild made a post to /r/blackfridayblackout[7] that asked, "May I just ask the reasons behind Black Friday Blackout?" and received 206 upvotes over 15 days. The top comment of the post (shown below) was posted by Redditor Hellaboveme and puts the movement's reasoning into a clearer context, receiving 401 upvotes in two weeks.


Hellaboveme · 13d The costs of the industrial revolution have long been externalized and soon the other shoe is going to drop. We will see hyperinflation and scarcity in our lifetime , it's already starting. We have seen wages be stagnant since the 1900s while productivity is the highest it's ever been. If we don't push back viciously and quickly things will only ever get worse and I refuse to work for 60+ years barely ever making ends meet with no economic mobility 401 Reply Give Award Share Report Save A Tip Follow DearOfTheWild OP · 13d That's a brilliant reason, thank you for the clarification, I'm currently on the verge of starting work, and I don't want to waste my entire life working without enjoying the time I have here. 199 Reply Give Award Share Report Save Tip Follow

Online Reactions

Memes related to the Black Friday Blackout campaign began appearing in /r/antiwork after October 21st, 2021. Redditor RealCaseyBlack posted an image to /r/antiwork[8] on October 31st (shown below, left) that received roughly 6,500 likes over the course of one month. RealCaseyBlack posted a similar meme the following day, November 1st, 2021, to /r/antiwork[9] (shown below, right) that received roughly 650 upvotes over one month.


BLACKOUT BLACK FRIDAY NOV. 26,2021 DONT GO TO WORK. DON'T GO SHOPPING. DON'T GO TO RESTAURANTS. DON'T SHOP ONLINE imgflip.com BLACKOUT BLACK FRIDAY DON'T GO TO WORK. DONT GO SHOPPING. DONT GO TO RESTAURANTS. DONT SHOP ONLINE. NOV 26, 2021 imgflip.com

On November 10th, 2021, news outlet Vice[10] published an article highlighting /r/Antiwork's Black Friday Blackout campaign titled, "Reddit's Million-Strong Antiwork Community Wants to Blackout Black Friday." The article detailed /r/Antiwork's rapid growth over the course of the past year and its influence in the general anti-capitalist zeitgeist.

More memes about Black Friday Blackout appeared on other subreddits on November 10th, 2021. For instance, Redditor Team-First posted a meme to the /r/memes[11] subreddit that criticized the lack of a solid plan within the movement's execution. The meme (shown below) received 53 upvotes.


NO SHOPPINGI NO WORKING! WE'RE GOING TO BLACKOUT BLACK FRIDAY AND GET FAIR WAGESI THE PLAN TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN? SOUNDS GOOD! WHAT'S imgfilp.com

Various Examples


Blackout Black Friday! DO NOT go to stores, DO NOT buy goods! Fight back against capitalist billionaire bosses exploiting your labor! STRIKE STRIKE, We're a group of MILLIONS of workers who are beginning a 10-day general strike starting Black Friday! Our minimum DEMANDS: • A $35 minimum wage • A 4-day, 25-hour work week • $1,000 USD Universal Basic Income • 8 weeks vacation per year • The abolition of wage labor through aut voluntary work Reddit: Black Friday Blackout is a Worldwide Day of Action Against Worker Discrimination, Exploitation, Rampant Consumerism & the Wealth Divide, it will Cause a Massive Loss of Corporate Profits. Quark: r/BasedMemeMedia Stephen A. Green @GreenTheRev It would be very impactful if we had a Blackout Black Friday movement for voting rights, paid family leave, child tax credits, immigration reform, reparations and police reform. 10:30 AM · 11/11/21 · Twitter for iPhone shane ruiz @Shaneless93 Over the next two days, 50,000 Kaiser workers will go on strike for the contract of just 700. Solidarity forever. 12:38 AM · 11/18/21 · Twitter for iPhone 1,429 Retweets 47 Quote Tweets 13.4K Likes Boycotting Amazon Boycotting online retail Boycotting in-store shopping Boycotting all retail stores Воуcotting all retail and quitting on black friday When the company fires a bunch of people just before Thanksgiving who were scheduled to work on Thanksgiving and begs me to work: No....No I dont think I will made with mematic

Search Interest

External References

[1] YouTube – Black Friday Blackout, Cyber Monday Sales (PROTEST FUR) NYC Macy's Mall of America

[2] YouTube – Blackout Black Friday Arrests and LRAD by the NYPD

[3] YouTube – Protesters in Westlake Mall – Blackout Black Friday 2015 Seattle

[4] Reddit – r/antiwork

[5] Reddit – r/blackfridayblackout/

[6] blackfridayblackout.info – website

[7] Reddit – r/blackfridayblackout

[8] Reddit – r/antiwork

[9] Reddit – r/blackfridayblackout

[10] Vice – Reddit's Million-Strong Antiwork Community Wants to Blackout Black Friday

[11] Reddit – r/memes

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