A Swiss bookstore decided to turn Black Friday on its head, encouraging customers to make charitable donations instead of snapping up cheap deals.
ADVERTISEMENT"Best deals", "huge discounts" and "big sales" — these are some of the slogans promoted by retailers around the world on the Friday after the US' Thanksgiving holiday.
In the US, the average shopper was expected to spend more than $1,000 (€880) in Black Friday sales this year. In 2017, Americans spent a total of $58 billion (€51 billion) during the shopping discount period — equivalent to the GDP of Bulgaria or Croatia.
But critics warn this period of mass consumption has a negative social and environmental impact.
The annual shopping event sees many people rush to buy electronic devices, leaving a trail of electronic waste of which only a small proportion is recycled. The fast fashion promoted by Black Friday is also linked to poverty wages for Asian garment workers.
Meanwhile, the very delivery of discounted products contributes to pollution, and plastic waste is causing problems across the world's oceans.
Amid these issues, a bookstore in Switzerland has found a way of turning Black Friday into 'Fair Friday'.
Click on the video above to see how they did it.
