I’m sure we have all heard of Black Friday, whether you use the day to score an amazing deal on something you will never use, or get a head start on your Christmas shopping (though who is actually this organised..), but have you ever stopped to think where the seemingly sinister term actually originated from?
1869: The earliest known use of the term was on September 24th, when a crash in gold prices caused catastrophic effects on the US economy.
1950s-60s: The first Friday after Thanksgiving would signify the start of the holiday shopping season, resulting in a mass of shoppers flocking to many different retailers to begin their gift-buying in a bid to try and get ahead for the next month. Unsurprisingly, this caused absolute mayhem as the streets overflowed and traffic was monumental. This led the day to be nicknamed ‘Black Friday’ by the traffic police and sales staff, particularly in Philadelphia, who had to deal with this chaos year after year.
1961: The word ‘black’ thus connoted some sort of disastrous occasion, and retailers were worried that the negative branding of the day would deter customers from the frantic bargain hunting that is so beneficial to their companies. This is why, in an attempt to remove the stigma that was now attached to the day, public relations officials tried to rebrand the day ‘Big Friday’. Although this attempt was unsuccessful, the name ‘Black Friday’ was never really an issue in terms of the revenue that these shopping powerhouses managed to rake in every year.
2001: Black Friday is officially claimed as the busiest shopping day of the year
Present Day: Even today there is still a sinister side to Black Friday. The mass of shoppers can result in serious injuries, or even death in some cases. In 2015, a man was crushed to death in Valley Stream, New York during the Black Friday sales at Wal-Mart and there have been many more instances of people being stepped on and injured during the frenzies of bargain hunting.
Black Friday is an extremely profitable day for most retailers. According to Adobe Analytics, sales go up by an average of 20% each Black Friday and Cyber Monday (the first Monday following Thanksgiving), and, in the US, Black Friday alone generates around $50 billion in sales each year. However, these economic triumphs for retailers, and the deals which the day brings for shoppers, often means that history of the day, and its current problems, are not widely known. I hope this article has been able to provide you with some context about it and will make you think twice when you next hear Black Friday referenced.
