Black Friday and the logic of hyperconsumption

an analysis of the economic coverage by Folha de S.Paulo

Abstract

An examination of Folha de S.Paulo’s Black Friday coverage reveals an economic journalism that, while reporting, simultaneously informs, guides, and reinforces the dynamics of hyperconsumption. The article presents the results of a qualitative case study based on the analysis of 13 texts published on the eve of and on Black Friday. The findings indicate the prevalence of frames that naturalize rising sales and portray declining consumption as a sign of economic anomaly. The analysis engages with scholarship on economic journalism and is grounded in the conception of consumption as a symbolic system and in the description of the affective and social intensification of hyperconsumption. The study shows that, although information is provided, there is a lack of critical problematization of the promises and frustrations produced by consumer culture.