US-owned Asda pulls out of Black Friday discounting

ASDA has moved away from the ‘Black Friday’ phenomenon again this year and has announced its lack of participation in a very unusual way.

The Leeds-based supermarket has posted a “mannequin challenge” video promoting its renunciation of Black Friday, the US shopping holiday related to Thanksgiving.

Walmart-owned Asda is usually credited with bringing Black Friday to the UK after frantic shoppers hit headlines in 2014 struggling to get their hands on lower priced goods.

Russell Craig, media relations director for Asda said: “Last year we said that we were stepping away from Black Friday because, as much as we had developed a well organised and executed event the feedback from our customers was clear that they didn’t want the pressure of a ‘flash sale’ and preferred to know we were offering low prices throughout the festive season.

“There are only so many ways you can make that message interesting for people – so we decided to have a bit of fun this year and get some of our colleagues involved in a mannequin challenge that we hope will both amuse and inform.”