By Malick Gaye
Have you ever found yourself driving on a late November night, hearing the mumble of crowds at a large store? Along with this, did you experience the horrific traffic that accompanies these mumbles? Anyone who has been out the week before Thanksgiving can tell you of these sights. Major franchises across town prepare for the biggest shopping day of the year by promising huge discounts on popular items to start the spending season. This is not an uncommon sight; several stores’ websites have Black Friday promotions on the home page. Even though Black Friday can be a very lucky day for some, it can be a burden to others. Crowds can be very unruly when trying to get a brand new, discounted television or a cheap new toy. People line up in front of major retailers for weeks, having to endure the shivering cold, sizzling heat, or the rain. Although Black Friday has a positive connotation for consumers, it has much darker roots in 1960s Philadelphia.
In an unspecified year in the 1960s, the Philadelphia police have to prepare for Black Friday: the day when civilians act wild. They had to control large, disorderly crowds, which was very difficult for them because everyone there wanted to get gifts before the stores ran out. Due to this, the police began to call the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” because the word “black” had a dark connotation, and the day after Thanksgiving was when people started holiday shopping. Soon enough, store owners found out that using discounts could attract large crowds to their stores. They took this name and made it a day for shopping. Although, there is another theory about the origin of the name “Black Friday”. Some people believe that it describes the day of the year when stores make a profit. When Black Friday would come in the 1960s, stores would go from “in the red” (when stores were losing money) to “in the black” (when stores were earning money).
So when the shopping season begins in November, you can now stop wondering why Black Friday is called Black Friday. You can tell your families the story that has just been told to you, and they can tell their friends this: Black Friday was a dark term that was turned into the ultimate advertising strategy. This day has become so huge that it has started to outshadow Thanksgiving, with consumers skipping their turkeys to wait in lines. Now that you are well informed of this, would you ever think of Black Friday the same way again?
