感恩節聖誕夜黑色星期五 美國和巴西的天壤之別

Brazil doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. But it does celebrate another form of giving; uniquely American in its frenetic, media frenzied salute to the holidays: good ole Black Friday.

巴西不慶祝感恩節。但是這個國家確實會用另一種形式來慶祝感恩節；以巴西特色的狂熱，媒體的諂媚，來向美好的黑色星期五致敬。

Carnival and the soccer field, Brazil has taken to imitating that day when millions of Americans camp out on frozen sidewalks in dilapidated tents in front of Walmart, all in the spirit of giving of their time and precious cash, in the hunt to trample and claw their way to a Panasonic

可悲的是，除了狂歡節和綠蔭場外，巴西自創的慶祝形式爲數不多，反而是開始學起美國人。而這一天的美國，數百萬美國人露宿在冰冷的街頭，沃爾瑪（Walmart）門前密佈着破舊的帳篷，所有人都是本着付出時間和寶貴金錢的精神，就爲了等大門一開爭先恐後地購買一臺松下平板電視機或者XBox One遊戲機。

But in the U.S., if Black Friday is a score card for Christmas retail sales, in Brazil it is more of a means for retailers to fraud eager shoppers, happy to participate in an American tradition that is still as foreign to them as the moon. If Brazilians were doing Black Friday right, they’d have people camping out in front of Patio Higienopolis Thursday night, or at least barging through the doors at 00:01 on Friday at the nearest FNAC.

在美國，如果說黑色星期五是一張聖誕節假期的零售業績記分卡，那麼在巴西，它卻更像是零售商欺騙熱切的、願意接受美國傳統節日的購物者的一種手段，因爲這個節日對他們而言還相當陌生。如果巴西人懂得怎麼過黑色星期五的話，那就應該在週四晚上到Patio Higienopolis賣場門口紮營，或至少在週五凌晨第一時間闖入最近的FNAC門店。

And as Black Friday approaches the second most populous nation in the Americas, city and state governments are taking to warning their shop-a-holic citizens, full of holiday cheer, that there are many Brazilian Grinches looking to take advantage of their gift giving selves by selling them up a river without a paddle.

鑑於黑色星期五逐漸被巴西這個美洲第二人口大國所接受，市、州政府開始向他們的市民——那些充滿假期歡樂的購物狂發出警告——有許多“巴西怪傑”打算利用他們獎勵自己點禮物的想法打撈一筆。

The consumer protection bureau of São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, released a list Tuesday morning of 325 companies Brazilians should avoid this holiday season, primarily for e-commerce. The bureau, known as Procon, or Pro-Consumer, also published a list of tips today on what to look out for when shopping online. So while Black Friday in the U.S. is a day of deals, in Brazil it’s come to be known more as a day of fraud. As a result of last year’s fraudulent fiasco among on line and traditional retailers, the local government is using Black Friday as a way to remind consumers of their rights.

在巴西最大的城市——聖保羅的消費者保護局週二早晨公佈了一份巴西人應該在這個假期迴避的325家公司名單，主要是針對電子商務。被稱爲消費者保護組織（Procon）或者維護消費者權益（Pro-Consumer）的保護局還在當天發佈了有關在網絡購物注意事項的指南清單。因此，雖然美國的黑色星期五是場購物盛宴，但到了巴西卻變成詐騙盛宴。考慮到在去年發生的網絡和傳統零售商的詐騙醜聞，巴西地方政府把黑色星期五當成了提醒消費者維權的契機。

This is quite different from the U.S., of course, where consumers are more than aware of their rights, and might even tend to abuse them. Brazil is not a litigious society. You get trampled, you grin and bear it. There is a new Brazil emerging. One acutely aware of fair play. A web based company called ReclameAQUI, or Complain Here, set up a site to give consumers in Brazil a voice. This of course is their busiest time of year.

這與美國相比，真是一個天一個地。當然，美國的消費者更清楚他們的權利，甚至是變得濫用自己的權利。巴西並非一個好打官司的社會。你的權利被踐踏也只能咬咬牙認了。不過，巴西正在改頭換面，這是一個更加認同公平交易的巴西。一家名爲Complain Here的網絡公司創建了一個網站，讓巴西的消費者發出自己的呼聲，當然，這是他們一年之中最忙碌的時候。

Brazil is getting ready for its fourth Black Friday, but this year is getting extra attention due to last year’s abundance of consumer complaints.

巴西正爲其第四個黑色星期五做準備，但是鑑於去年大量的消費者投訴，今年得到了越來越多的關注。

Brazilian daily Estado de Sao Paulo has even taken to posting up to the minute story items about Black Friday, serving as a watchdog to the bad boys of Brazilian retail.

巴西報紙聖保羅州報(Estado de Sao Paulo)甚至已經開始發佈有關黑色星期五的詳細的新聞報道，以監督巴西的零售業中的“壞孩子”。

Last year, many Brazilians went to stores promising discounts upwards of 70%, only to find out the discounts were much lower, or were tied to other offers. Some stores simply raised prices weeks before Black Friday, only to lower them on the actual date in order to give consumers a sense that prices had dropped precipitously.

去年，許多巴西人涌進那些宣傳三折大減價的商家，結果卻發現折扣根本沒那麼多，或者是附加了種種條件。一些商店乾脆在黑色星期五前幾周擡高售價，只是在節日當天降低價格，繼而讓消費者們感覺到是在大減價。

“This year’s Black Friday will be a testing ground for retailers, ” said Rodrigo Bore, vice president of online retailer Buscapé. The company said it spent around $200 million on software and staff to build a system that validates price offerings from the retailers it showcases on its search engine. The prices of items marked down for Black Friday will be compared with the average value of the same goods sold over a three month period to see if there really is a discount in play, Bore told Estado on Tuesday.

“今年的黑色星期五對於零售商而言是一塊試驗田。”電商Buscapé副總裁羅德里戈·博爾（Rodrigo Bore）說。這家公司表示，爲了建立一個系統，來驗證其搜索引擎中零售商報價的真實性，它在軟件和人員方面投資了大約2億美元。該系統將對黑色星期五打折商品的價格與前三個月同類商品的平均售價進行比對，以此來判斷折扣是否真實。

Search engine Busca Desconto, which helps organize Black Friday on line in Brazil, partnered with the Brazilian E-Commerce Chamber to create a code of ethics for participating e-tailers, in an effort to move them into good ole gringo-style customer service.

搜索引擎Busca Desconto，不僅組織巴西的黑色星期五在線購物活動，同時還與巴西的電子商務商會（E-Commerce Chamber）合作，爲參與電商制定行爲準則，以此來規範他們的顧客服務，向“外國佬”的水平看齊。

Chamber director Gerson Rolim said Brazilian retailers are notorious for phony sales. Part of the new code of ethics is to guarantee consumers that Black Friday sales are actual sales, below the average three month price. Another target, said Rolim, is to get e-tailers in particular to clarify exactly what items are on sale and what shoppers have to do in order to secure the discount. Getting a free TV if you buy a Mercedes C is not really a Black Friday sale.

該商會負責人格爾森·羅裏姆（Gerson Rolim）說巴西的零售商因虛假打折促銷而臭名昭著。制定這套新的行爲準則，一定程度上是爲了向消費者們保證，黑色星期五的打折是真實的，低於三個月的平均價格。羅裏姆表示，另一個目標是讓零售業者，尤其是電商，明確哪些商品在打折促銷以及爲了享受折扣，消費者們需要滿足哪些要求。買奔馳車送電視機，這種活動算不上是黑色星期五的打折促銷。

If companies violate the code of ethics, they will be banned from participating in Black Friday sales in 2014. By then, Brazilians will be in their fifth year of Black Friday madness. Forget the phony sales. I say, let the trampling begin!

如果有公司違反了這套行爲準則，那麼他們將被禁止參加2014年的黑色星期五減價促銷活動。屆時，巴西人將迎來黑色星期五瘋狂的第五個年頭。忘記虛假促銷。我是說，讓盛宴開始吧！