The name "Black Friday" originated because, before the age of computerized profit records, red ink symbolized a drop in profits for a store while black ink symbolized increased revenue. The day after Thanksgiving has traditionally been one of the most profitable for retailers, seeing as it marks the beginning of holiday season spending. It seems logical for retailers to have a day of extreme sales to jump start people's Christmas shopping, but a question that has always perplexed me is: Why does it have to be so close to Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is one of the only widely celebrated American holidays that is not based on giving gifts. Thanksgiving is the day to appreciate what you have and to distance yourself from materialism, in fact it would seem inappropriate to give a gift for Thanksgiving. So I wonder, who came up with the idea to cut this important holiday short so people can wake up at 3am and trample each other to buy shiny new electronics? It seems that people are using it justify their overwhelming spending by saying "Well, I gave thanks yesterday, now that I got that over with I can go shopping!"
Emma, I have never believed that black friday shopping concerns such adverse values than thanksgiving. I actually believe the series makes a lot of sense. Thanksgiving is a day to realize just how fortunate you have been the past year, and it is followed (by many) by going out to buy holiday gifts for the loved ones they are so grateful for. Also on black friday there is less than a month before the holidays-it seems appropriate timing to me. One thing that troubles me about this day is it's title- why BLACK friday? Does black hold a positive connotation here because it represents an increase in sales?
ReplyDeleteCarolyn,
ReplyDeleteIt does seem weird that an increase in sales should be represented by the color black. In my opinion, it should be something with a lighter connotation. However, I completely agree with your statement. I understand that it may seem very "materialistic" to go out shopping the day after Thanksgiving, but I believe that the reason people go is to buy gifts for the holidays. I don't think that shopping for loved ones the day after a holiday celebrating them should be considered a bad thing.
I think that you ladies are reading into the connotation of the color black more than is possible. Emma's explanation of why the color black is used should explain the discrepancy here. I do think that an interesting contrast is the relative peace during Thanksgiving where people celebrate and give thanks for what they have, as opposed to the frantic holiday rush that follows up until Christmas, where people trample each other to get more things. Didn't they just reflect on what they have and how it is enough? Do they really need more? Sure, its a gift for someone else, I understand that, but the whole atmosphere of the United States changes as plans are made, stress levels increase, until the breaking point. It seems that Thanksgiving is becoming just a calm before the storm.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the awesome comments! Just an update: since I wrote this post I discovered that many Black Friday sales started at 10pm on Thanksgiving night! I know for sure my family was still celebrating Thanksgiving at that time, it seems to be cutting off Thanksgiving in a big way to have a sale start that early. But that is just an extreme example, and I can also see Carolyn and Kristen's points that it does seem like the natural order of things for there to be a day to start off holiday spending.
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