ACTIVISTS in Reading were among those protesting consumerism in an international movement on Black Friday.
Last week, posters appeared around Reading encouraging members of the public to take part in environmental activism, including one depicted a hand-drawn ostrich.
The poster warned that “we are heading for extinction” and urged the public to protest continued drilling for fossil fuels and to join environmental organisations, before signing off “see you on the streets.”
A dozen such posters were put up around Reading, all with different, purpose-created designs.
Then on Friday, November 24, activists targeted many of the digital billboards in Reading, covering them with black fabric printed with slogans protesting the energy use of digital adverts and the effect of consumerism on the environment.
Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving is observed in the US, traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping period and is one the busiest day of the year for shops.
Many outlets offer sales and reductions on items as part of the event.
An internationally-co-ordinated response to Black Friday called the ZAP Games began in Brussels in 2020, organised by Subvertisers International, and sees activists targeting outdoor advertising.
They argue that it drives an “unsustainable” model of excessive consumption, and cited a number of resources which laid out the environmental effect of both Black Friday itself and the associated advertising it drives.
One report includes figures which show that two million tonnes of electronic waste is sent to landfill.
Another examined advertising, and showed that the combined carbon footprint of advertising in the UK was in excess of 200 million tonnes.
This represents an extra 30% addition to the annual footprint of every person in the UK, and shows a 10% increase compared to 2019.
Amazon alone spent $54 million on outdoor advertising last year.
Advertising screens, such as those in the centre of Reading, use as much electricity as three average homes in the UK each, with larger billboards, such as the one near Reading Station, use as much as around 11.
Billboards in Reading were covered with slogans such as “Black Friday– we’re not buying it,” “dying of consumption,” and “It’s not a bargain if you don’t need it.”
Others posed the question: “If not ads, what would you rather see here?”
The ZAP Games, or Zone Anti-Publicité (anti-advertising zone), is an annual protest coordinated by The Subvertisers International, a movement of individuals and organisations concerned about the effects of advertising on people and society more broadly.
More information about them is available via: subvertisers-international.net
