Thanksgiving is one of the strangest holidays I have ever celebrated. Being from Sweden and spending most my life in Europe, this is my sixth year celebrating Turkey Day. I don’t understand the reasoning behind it entirely, but I still love it. I mean what’s better than getting an excuse to stuff your face with food? And then there's Black Friday and Cyber Monday where I can buy as many things as I want (and ignore my bank account for those days) and it is socially okay to go into the negatives of my wallet.
This year, Patagonia has said they are going to donate 100% of their profits from Black Friday to environmental groups. As amazing as this sounds, it does not sound like it can be completely true… I mean, how can they possibly do this? After all, aren’t most companies just working for profit? I recently completed a project on Chick-Fil-A who claim that they started the company entirely based on servant leadership (to God) and not for profits. Seeing how the company has grown is amazing, if this is actually the case.On Patagonia’s website, Rose Marcario, the CEO, says they will give 100% of the sale on Black Friday (known as the "100% For the Planet" initiative), but they also give 1% of their sales every day. Their 1% for the planet has been going on since 1985, but how many people actually know about this? This is the first time I have heard about it.
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Looking further into this, Marcario said in a letter on their website, "These are small groups, often underfunded and under the radar, who work on the front lines. The support we can give is more important now than ever." He argues that the best gift we can give anyone is a healthy planet and this is their way of contributing. Trying to find which environmental groups it is that they are actually donating to, however, seems like an impossible mission. They do not say which one(s) they are specifically donating to, but instead name various small organizations and claim it depends on where you buy the product. So what about the sales that they're mentioning for the online Black Friday sale? As much as I love Patagonia, I did not expect it to be a company where you need to read the fine print to truly grasp the bigger picture.
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