Can We Escape Consumerism? Black Friday Through the Cultural Humor of Marivan Martins

From Target shoppers fighting over a Stanley cup to an ambulance used for deliveries—I decided to make a book inspired by real news events.” Brazilian photographer Marivan Martins recounts the frenzy of Black Friday

Lampoon introduces Black Friday – interview with author Marivan Martins

Stress, overconsumption, uncertainty, and the fear of being caught off guard and left behind: Martins approaches these themes through the lens of photography, drawing inspiration from current events and his personal experience both as a consumer and an artist. “Each work starts from a scene I picture in my head – Martins explains. In the case of Black Friday, it was a picture of a woman coming out of a Black Friday sale on a stretcher. She is injured, but in her hands, she is holding the TV she wanted, and she is happy”.

“This book is not meant to be judgmental. It is a recreation of modern life”, declares Brazilian photographer Marivan Martins about his latest photography book, Black Friday. The title draws inspiration from an emblem of consumer society: the Friday after Thanksgiving Day, which since 1952 has been considered the beginning of the Christmas shopping and sales season in the US. On this occasion, big retail chains offer exceptional promotions in order to increase their sales by attracting a large number of consumers. 

The book talks about capitalism and over-consumerism by exploiting irony and cultural humor. “It starts from the assumption that we are daily pushed to buy and consume, making work a system based on money and the possession of things”, he explains. Despite the seriousness of the topics it addresses, Black Friday gets rid of any moralistic intent or judgmental attitude and depicts a reality which we all experience on a daily basis. The book was funded and designed by Martins, with creative input from industry professionals he selected among his friends and work network, including stylists, models, and makeup artists. 

From industrialization to consumer society

For a few days now, the image of a McDonald’s engulfed in flames has been circulating online and on television. This shot, which looks like a still from some apocalyptic movie in the style of Independence Day or The day after tomorrow, represents the reality the city of Los Angeles and the surrounding areas find themselves in. Seeing the logo of the fast-food chain in the world enveloped in fire resonates in our minds like a warning and a premonition. What kind of future are we heading towards? 

McDonald’s is the symbol of today’s neoliberal capitalism – in the 1990s the American sociologist George Ritzer coined the word “McDonaldization” to indicate the process of homologation, standardization and depersonalization of goods and production, characterized by the speed of consumption. Today, in 2025, it seems reasonable to pay €5 for a beef hamburger, or less than €10 for a new t-shirt, without considering the environmental and social cost of our choices. 

Brazil: the US have a huge influence over the country and all South America

 His interest in consumer culture – typically American and then exported all over the world – also stems from his cultural roots: “I am from Brazil, and the US have influence over my country and all South America. I am aware that we cannot escape consumerism. I work in fashion, and I do buy a lot of stuff, thus I sympathize with the stories in the book”. 

Through the roughness of his analog shots, Martins has captured the irony of modern lifestyle. In Black Friday, he asks himself and the audience how far we can go and what are the boundaries we are willing to overcome. The preparatory work for the creation of the book required many months and in-depth research both in terms of content and style. “Choosing my collaborators was a step to the success of the book – Martins claims. For the cover image – the woman on the stretcher – I evaluated many faces. I chose this elderly comedian because she had the energy I wanted to convey with this shot”.

Black Friday’s pictures draw inspiration from news stories related to consumerism and the impact it has on people’s lives and their sociality

“The news story which sparked my imagination involved two Target shoppers fighting over a Stanley cup. When I found out about this story, I decided to make a book based on news events”. The creative process developed in two directions: on the one hand he interpreted international news stories related to the topic of consumerism and capitalism through his photographic language; on the other, he reviewed newspapers and news websites to find events which matched his imagination. 

“There wasn’t a crazy idea which did not find confirmation in reality – Martins recalls. It is funny and scary at the same time”. Martins claims that the shot of the ambulance loaded with packages embodies the humorous and documentary spirit of Black Friday: “My goal was to visually represent the absurdity of society, where consumerism and craving for shopping come before health. First, I took the photo and then I discovered that somewhere in Brazil, an ambulance had been used for deliveries”. 

The four sub-themes of Black Friday: Health, Violence, Body, and Quality of life

Martins’ shots, scattered across the pages without any logical sense to represent the randomness of real life, reflect four macro-areas: Health, Violence, Body, and Quality of life. By further delving into these topics, the artist wanted to explore the mechanisms and conditions in which the draw of consumerism can overcome life itself, and therefore human rationality. Each group of images – except Quality of life – was conceived together with a professional stylist, who provided the shots with their personal creative vision: Clara Ziegler, Victoire Seveno, and Damien Testu. 

The first series metaphorically depicts our relationship with health, what he believes to be the basis for a serene life. “Are there times when we are prepared to put it aside?”, Martins asks the reader. “The shots of the ambulance and the woman on the stretcher represent this concept well. Clara Ziegler and I worked together for months; we wanted the imperfection of everyday life to emerge from the shots”. Violence, on the other hand, is intended to be a reflection on the power we exert over other people during the act of buying or consuming. Does purchasing power validate our aggressiveness? “I found several news stories about people being aggressive in fast foods, so I decided to take this shot of a customer spilling soda on a McDonald’s employee. I mostly shot on film – he adds, which is tricky, because you never know the result until you develop the film”.

Body and Quality of Life: the irony of paradox

The image welcoming readers when they open Black Friday is that of a foot squeezed inside an ill-fitting shoe. The shots belonging to the sub-theme Body depict the effects which trends, fashion, and our desire to be beautiful and desirable have on our bodies. Finally, Quality of Life confronts readers with the paradox of contemporary society with a subtle cultural humor that is at times disconcerting. From the echoing shots of Taylor Swift fans willing to sleep in a tent for days to secure the front rows at her concerts, to that of a person – probably a homeless – crouched on a subway bench while using his Apple computer. Above him, a large billboard advertises the new MacBook Pro.

Black Friday employs the photographic medium to lay bare the oddity of modern society, where everything is programmed to be obsolescent, priorities are reversed, and life becomes an endless race towards something we can never really reach. As Bauman said: “The purpose of the game of consumption is not so much the desire to acquire and possess, nor to accumulate wealth in a material, tangible sense, as the excitement for new sensations, never experienced before. Consumers are first and foremost collectors of sensations”

Agnese Torres