When Does Fun Become A Gambling Addiction?
From Robinhood to Binance to online poker, it’s never been easier to place a bet. Here’s what to look for and what to do when things get serious.
IN THIS ARTICLE:
Even though you’re totally gonna BOYCOTT BLACK FRIDAY, it still exists
The ads. The waste. The exhaustion. That’s all painfully real.
But you know what isn’t real? The thing Black Friday claims to be all about: the deals.
Say it again: Those deals aren’t real
The brands have been very bad. Which.com exposed their scheming in their 2020 report.
❌ 85% were cheaper or the same price both before and after Black Friday
❌ 85% were the same price or cheaper before Black Friday
❌ 98% were the same price or cheaper after Black Friday
❌ Only 1% were their cheapest price on Black Friday
But… how?
1%. It’s laughable. Impressive, even. If it didn’t mean tricking ~99% of Black Fri buyers.
Some ways they get you:
🚩 Using old RRPs as 'was' prices. What they say you ‘would have paid’ is not its true value today
🚩 Displaying every price reduction as if it was a promotion, that’s price drops as small as 1p - Amazon are the ones to watch for this
🚩 A lot of the time, the price reductions aren’t specific to Black Fri. So that deal could still be there (or even better) for the next six months
And they DO get you
Those Black Fri fakers keep breaking records. $9.03 billion in online sales in 2020. That’s $6.3 million per minute (!) spent by U.S. consumers shopping online, on avg $27.50 per person. Oof.
Boycott Black Friday, protect mother nature
Ofc this means bad things for the environment.
More consumption = more waste. In the UK alone, Black Friday 2020 emitted 429,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions—that’s the equivalent of 435 return flights from London to New York.
And reports say up to 80% of our Black Friday buys are thrown away after using it once or not at all.
Black Friday 2021 is a mess
Oh, the whole global supply crisis? Black Fri might push things into full meltdown. Your ‘bargain’ could be stuck in the Pacific, getting a nice break from things.
And in retail chains across the U.S. and Europe, there’s data to suggest promotions are down compared to 2020, when they were already being reined in.
So the deals that were fake and weird already. They’re... even worse now? C’mon Black Fri, you’re making it too easy to tear you down. Try harder.
Those stats not devastating enough?
If you’re still gonna spend, at least make it an investment into your future. You need a Cleo Credit Builder Card. That way, because you’re only spending the money YOU have, every spend you make (yes, even on Black Friday) shows the big scary banks just how great you are at spending responsibly.
More on that here.
FAQs
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