Boycott Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Why Boycott Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

There are a number of reasons why some people avoid buying things on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, including:

• tax avoidance strategies of some of the biggest brands involved e.g. Amazon, and the impact on funding for public services
• the encouragement of over-consumption
• the environmental impact of waste generated from the promotional days

We outline these reasons and others in this article.

Plus, there's tips if you want to avoid Black Friday.

Boycott Black Friday for the planet

The carbon cost of Black Friday and Cyber Monday is high. 

In 2024, trucks delivering Black Friday packages to warehouses and stores were estimated to emit 1.2 million tons of CO2 across Europe – 94% more than in the average week. That’s equivalent to almost 1.8 million return flights from London to New York. 

According to logistics company Optoro, returning items bought during the sales used over 1.2 billion gallons of diesel and emitted 12 million metric tonnes of CO2 in the US alone.

Clothing, accessories, electronics and cosmetics are among the most popular Black Friday purchases.

It has been estimated that 80% of electronics and clothing, plus the plastic packaging they are wrapped in, end up in landfill, incineration, or at best low-quality recycling after a very short life.

According to Business Waste, the 42.8 million parcels received by UK customers on Black Friday in 2025 led to around 3,000 tonnes of unnecessary cardboard used in one day, due to oversized packaging. 

We are not cutting consumption fast enough to avoid climate meltdown. When it comes to the impact of consumer goods on the planet, repairing, choosing secondhand, and when necessary buying from more sustainable brands is the way to help close the climate gap.

Black Friday is taking us in the opposite direction of where we need to be heading, encouraging the purchase of brand new things we probably don’t even need.

Boycott Black Friday for our public services

In 2025, British shoppers spent £3.8 billion across the four days of Black Friday to Cyber Monday. 

The majority of this money goes to large companies: Amazon, which has a track record of gross tax avoidance,  made 17.7% of all Black Friday sales in 2024. Smaller companies which pay their due taxes tend to have a much smaller cut from Black Friday sales, and they often don’t even take part in the event (see small business section below).

Our public services rely on taxes. By giving your money to smaller, independent companies you increase the likelihood that part of that money doesn’t end up in an offshore account or in an already rich person’s pocket but it provides crucial funding to our public services.

Boycott Black Friday because of Amazon

Amazon is largely credited for the rise of Black Friday in the UK, after it started promoting the event here in 2010.

Ethical Consumer has called for a boycott of Amazon since 2012, in response to its prolific tax avoidance. 

Amazon UK shifts much of its money into a subsidiary in the well-known tax haven of Luxembourg, meaning that it is able to get away with paying little or no tax. 

Since Amazon’s sales soared after the beginning of the pandemic, Ethical Consumer has estimated that the company's tax avoidance could have cost the UK economy around half a billion pounds each year. According to research by Ethical Consumer, just in the four years from 2020-24, Amazon was thought to have avoided nearly £2 billion in UK corporation tax through artificial tax arrangements.

Amazon scores badly in our shopping guides and we dedicated an entire issue of our magazine to Amazon alternatives last year, to help people find ways to avoid using it.

Plus, we have published a list of ethical alternative gift vouchers, for people who wish to avoid Amazon vouchers.

If you're looking for a special value deal, check out our article on buying on a lower budget without using Amazon.

Workers' rights at Amazon

Workers have repeatedly protested over the condition in Amazon fulfilment centres. They face even more excessive targets and surveillance during the period before and after Black Friday.

Read about the conditions through the eyes of an Amazon worker in our separate feature article.

What is the #MakeAmazonPay campaign?

Tax isn’t the only problem with Amazon – it’s also under fire for issues around workers’ rights, union busting, and its carbon impacts.

The Make Amazon Pay coalition launched in November 2020 and a broad range of unions and civil society organisations have joined worldwide, including Greenpeace, Tax Justice Network, Amazon Workers International and Ethical Consumer.

Since 2021, Black Friday has witnessed strikes, protests and solidarity actions across Amazon’s transcontinental supply chain, with workers in multiple countries striking in large numbers at the same time for the first time.

Make Amazon Pay has five demands, each with their own actions:

• improve the workplace
• provide job security
• respect workers' rights
• operate sustainably
• pay back to society

You can let the company know you're boycotting it by cancelling your Amazon Prime subscription on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, and telling Amazon why you are doing this. 

Boycott Black Friday to support small businesses

It’s impossible for most small companies to offer discounts of the same size as larger companies, and to promote them as heavily.

The British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA) takes a firm stance against the event. In 2025, it found that more than three-quarters of independent retailers were boycotting the Black Friday sales, “rejecting pressure to slash prices at one of the busiest trading periods of the year”. Some smaller companies even shut down their websites for the day in protest.

In the past, some ethical companies have taken action in other ways too. 

Clothing brand THTC doesn't lower its prices for Black Friday. In previous years it has doubled the price of its products with the extra money going towards charitable causes. Karma Drinks, a Best Buy in our soft drinks guide, likewise previously raised its prices by £5 throughout the sales period, with the money going to charity. Y.O.U. underwear also plants a tree for every order made during the Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales.

And Best Buy Lucy & Yak, instead of putting on sales, has donated to the Fior Di Loto Foundation which provides life-changing education for girls living in the villages surrounding Pushkar in Northwest India, where its factory is located.

Which companies will profit from Black Friday?

Amazon will be cashing in on the sales (see above for more information about Amazon). Here we examine the ethics of just another couple of tax-avoiding companies that are partaking in the sales this year.

Apple

Apple scores 0/100 for Tax Conduct, with subsidiaries in tax havens including Ireland and the Netherlands. 

Campaigners and law-makers have also repeatedly criticised the company. For example, in 2024, Apple was forced by courts to repay €13bn (£11bn) in Irish tax, given in “illegal” tax breaks. 

Apple said after the ruling by the European Court of Justice: “This case has never been about how much tax we pay but which government we are required to pay it to. We always pay all the taxes we owe wherever we operate and there has never been a special deal.”

The company also scores 0/100 in our Workers category for reasons including taking no adequate steps to address the issue of living wages in its supply chain. Meanwhile its highest paid director received £54 million in compensation in 2024.

Read more about Apple.
 

Boohoo

Fast fashion brand Boohoo – which owns PrettyLittleThing, Nasty Gal, MissPap, Karen Millen and Coast – receives just 20/100 for Tax Conduct. It’s incorporated in tax haven Jersey despite most of its operations being on the UK mainland and its main offices being in Manchester. 

Ethical Consumer asked Boohoo for the reasons for its Jersey registration. A spokesperson responded on 15th September 2026 stating that it “does not gain any tax advantage from being registered in Jersey. The company is tax resident in the UK, and its profits are subject to UK corporation tax at the standard rate. Jersey has a well-respected company law framework, which is why the group chose to incorporate there when it was first established.”

These explanations were not considered adequate. The structure allowed for greater secrecy and could be used to facilitate tax avoidance in the future.

One of the company's directors was paid over £1.5 million in 2024. Boohoo also scores 0/100 in our climate, sustainable materials and cotton sourcing categories.

Read more about Boohoo.

Sony

Sony Corporation scored 0/100 for Tax Conduct due to having high risk holding companies in well-known tax havens including Bermuda, Hong Kong, and Panama.

It scores 0/100 for Workers, and hasn’t taken adequate steps to achieve living wages in its supply chain. At the same time its highest paid director was paid 593 million Japanese yen (about £3m) in 2023.

Read more about Sony Corporation.

Do things differently

If you want to re-think your approach to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, here are some suggestions for a more sustainable approach:

• Before buying something, ask yourself if you truly need the item
• Look for secondhand or refurbished items where possible
• Buy from more ethical businesses who pay their fair share of taxes and are more committed to climate action
• Buy several things from one retailer if ordering online, instead of single things from multiple different retailers, in order to reduce delivery emissions and avoid excessive packaging waste. 

Will we ever see the end of Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

In 2026, UK consumers are expected to spend £6.4 billion on Black Friday, up 1.5% from last year.

But many UK citizens also oppose the sale: Keep Britain Tidy found in 2024 that across the UK, 16.6 million (31%) agree they 'hate’ Black Friday and 14.5 million (27%) would join a boycott. And a 2025 survey indicates that the novelty of the mega sales event may be wearing off, 35% of respondents saying they are less interested than they were a few years ago. 

But research also shows that the otherwise environmentally savvy Gen Z and millennials are most likely to spend. Unfortunately it looks like there’s still a lot of life yet in Black Friday and Cyber Monday.