Black Friday, an American shopping tradition, arrived in Malta yesterday, with shops luring customers with dramatic discounts and bargains – but at the same time, a small group of fair trade establishments was fighting back.

On Buy Nothing Day, organised by Friends of the Earth Malta together with a number of shops and NGOs, people were offered a bargain with a twist: pledge a few hours of your time to a voluntary organisation and get your goods for free.

“The goal is to make people think before they buy,” said Martin Galea de Giovanni from Friends of the Earth. “Consumerism is the cause of some of the biggest problems facing the environment right now.”

The campaign appears to have been a modest success: by mid-morning, a quarter of the vouchers being given out in exchange for at least four hours of voluntary work had already been snapped up; by late afternoon, nearly 200 hours of voluntary work had been pledged.

“Especially on a day when people don’t think twice about going out to buy, we want to encourage people to see the value of their time, not just their money,” Mr de Giovanni said. “Many local NGOs are on the constant lookout for voluntary support.”

Five local businesses took part in yesterday’s initiative, all chosen for their commitment to providing fair, ethical and sustainable products to their customers. Laura Gonzalez from Why Not, in St Julian’s, said she was motivated to take part to highlight the ethical issues that often dog the supply chains of major brands.

“Even when it’s difficult to buy ethically, simply buying local can make a big difference,” she said.

Yesterday’s event formed part of the Supply Change project, a European campaign pushing for ethical and sustainable practices along the supply chain of supermarket store brands.

“International retail chains are competing for bargain seekers with relentless price competition,” the campaign said in a statement. “The true cost is paid by others: working conditions along the supply chains of supermarkets are unacceptable and their environmental impact needs to be reduced.”

Concurrent events were held across all EU countries, calling for an end to exploitation in supermarket private label production, which now accounts for 40 per cent of all food sales in Europe.

The campaign called for supermarkets to acknowledge their responsibility for human and workers’ rights violations and environmental destruction along their supply chains.

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