Black Friday, which occurs the day after Thanksgiving, is known as the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season in the United States.
It’s designed to attract large crowds both physically and online. Businesses view it as a prime chance to flood the market with limited-time deals, which lead to countless customers lining up or obsessively refreshing their web browsers.
Annually, hordes of shoppers gather, sometimes even camping outside, eagerly waiting for discounted items like electronics and toys. This frenzy results in traffic jams, overflowing parking lots, and occasionally even fistfights over flat-screen TVs. Online shoppers face challenges too, with frequently crashing websites and empty carts. Meanwhile, some find joy in watching the spectacle—a display of consumer madness.
Retailers prepare with military-like precision, launching marketing strategies to outdo competitors and creating irresistible discounts. Interestingly, many won’t publicly acknowledge that sales on the Saturday before Christmas or Cyber Monday often exceed those of Black Friday. Yet, the excitement continues, fueled by a fabricated sense of urgency.
Despite widespread belief, “Black Friday” does not primarily refer to retailers who balance their financial books from “red” to “black.” Its origin is actually tied to something less appealing.
The Philadelphia Connection
Black Friday finds its origins in Philadelphia during the early 1960s, predating its status as a national shopping tradition. The term arose from the local police who described the chaotic scene the day following Thanksgiving.
Suburban shoppers flocked to the city, joined by crowds coming for the yearly Army-Navy football game, resulting in gridlocked streets and crowded sidewalks.
This surge created significant challenges for law enforcement, with traffic accidents on the rise, an increase in shoplifting, and the inevitability of overtime shifts. Philadelphia retailers, eager to shake off this negative image, attempted to rename it “Big Friday,” but that effort fizzled. Despite its initial unattractiveness, “Black Friday” endured.
The 1980s Retail Revolution
In the late 1980s, the term “Black Friday” was redefined through creative marketing. Retailers shifted focus from its disorderly beginnings to a more positive interpretation: the transition from annual financial losses, or “red,” to profits, or “black.”
This revamped narrative turned Black Friday into a cultural fixture, noted for significant discounts and almost frenzied shopping behaviors. The transformation was a game-changer.
The 1869 Gold Market Scandal
Long before Black Friday became a shopping spectacle, it symbolized financial calamity.
On September 24, 1869, some Wall Street financiers orchestrated a scheme to monopolize the U.S. gold market, causing prices to skyrocket. Their goal? To profit massively while destabilizing the economy.
President Ulysses S. Grant intervened by releasing federal gold reserves into the market. Gold prices tanked, triggering a stock market collapse that left countless businesses and individuals bankrupt.
The day was coined “Black Friday” for its catastrophic impact on the nation’s economy, a considerably less glamorous origin compared to today’s meaning.
Modern Shopping Holidays
Over time, Black Friday spawned numerous retail-themed spin-offs.
Small Business Saturday debuted to highlight local merchants as an alternative to big-box store madness.
Cyber Monday soon followed, catering to those unwilling to set foot in overcrowded stores by offering discounts online. Giving Tuesday entered the scene later, redirecting consumer attention from buying to charitable donations.
Together, these days transformed the holiday season into a promotional marathon, leaving wallets lighter and inboxes stuffed with sales pitches.