BTS TERTIAIRES

LANGUE VIVANTE ECRITE

E2 – NIVEAU A

ANGLAIS
10

Février 2023

15

Durée : 2 heures
Matériel autorisé : Dictionnaire unilingue

20 Le sujet comporte 3 pages

1
 Amazon’s anger causes Black Friday backlash¹ in France
The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, issued an online petition entiltled “Noël Sans
Amazon”. Adressed to Santa Claus, it commits the signatories to a
5 “#CristmasWithoutAmazon”, described as a tax evasion Grinch² that destroys small
businesses, jobs and the environment in France.
The virtual call to arms, however, was quickly the victim of an online hack that
overloaded the website with forged signatures sent from over 200 different servers,
including hundreds on behalf of Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, the comment “Sorry, not
10 sorry, Jeff.”
The rush of French politicians to appease the anger of small businesses has
reopened a wider controversy over Black Friday itself, which wasn’t even an event in
Europe until a few years ago, when it was inaugurated, mainly by Amazon, which
started to promote significant sales at the same time as those in the US.
15 While American Thanksgiving is just another Thursday in Europe, Black Friday has
flourished. In Britain, Spain and other countries, Amazon and other major retailers
have already started offering Black Friday discounts online earlier this month.
France has been slower than other European countries to join the trend and
politicians have discouraged shoppers from participating, warning of a “consumer
20 frenzy³” in which people are encouraged to buy products they don’t need. The fact
that Amazon isn’t a French company hasn’t helped either. Yet, Black Friday has been
a crucial tool for retailers to increase sales. Last years, retailers in France achieved
an estimate turnover of 6 billion euro around Black Friday.
Those sales are more crucial than ever this year as retailers have faced
25 unprecedented losses linked to lockdowns linked to the coronavirus pandemic.
Although stores reopened from June to September, that was not enough to fully
compensate for France’s first foreclosure: sales since the start of the year are still, on
average, 10% below their levels. 2019, according to an analysis by German bank
Allianz.
30 fr24news.com, November 20, 2020

35

¹ Backlash : strong feeling among a group of people interaction to a change

² Grinch : somebody who ruins other people’s pleasure, here business

³ Frenzy: excitement

2
 Compréhension

A rédiger en FRANÇAIS. Après avoir lu attentivement l’article, vous rédigerez un

5 Compte Rendu en faisant ressortir les idées essentielles de façon organisée.
180 mots ± 10% Vous indiquerez le nombre de mots.

Expression

10

A rédiger en ANGLAIS.
Vous êtes Katniss Everdeen (k-everdeen@panem.com), gérante d’une boutique de
vêtements au centre-ville de Plymouth (Angleterre). Vous craignez les effets du
Black Friday sur le chiffre d’affaires de votre commerce et avez entendu parler du
15 vent de protestation qui s’élève contre cette pratique en France.
Vous écrivez à Seneca Crane (s.crane@brc.co.uk), représentant du British Retail
Consortium (fédération des commerçants britanniques) afin qu’il demande au
gouvernement de décourager les consommateurs de commander en ligne, comme
cela a été fait en France, en soulignant les avantages de communiquer en faveur des
20 commerçants locaux.
Salutations et formules de politesse d’usage
130 mots minimum Vous indiquerez le nombre de mots

25

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