A Brief Overview of Black Friday's Origins

ElevatEd
Blog
November 24, 2021

black-friday Every year on the fourth Thursday of November, people celebrate Thanksgiving. In the United States, the Christmas holiday shopping season officially begins on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. In the 1960s, the phrase "Black Friday" was initially used in newspapers. Everyone is only aware of Black Friday sales, but we know very little or nothing about the history of the phenomenon. Let's take a look at Black Friday's past!

The Original Story of Black Friday

During the 1900s, the “black” in Black Friday referred to the black ink used on handwritten ledgers in accounts to denote profit. It was, however, a concocted story to make it sound more pleasing. The original event was related to the annual Army-Navy football game. In Philadelphia, this sporting event was held every Saturday followed by Thanksgiving.

In the 1950s-70s, the game brought in an enormous crowd of people, and most of them arrived a day before the match started, i.e., Friday. It became a major headache for the police, who had to deal with the chaos and misbehavior of the crowd. The police started calling this day Black Friday. Retailers in Philadelphia, who saw a sales spike from all the people in town, started calling the day Black Friday as well. In the 1980s, the name Black Friday was accepted nationwide, and the story of black ink got more known than the original story itself. Now, we all know how Black Friday is closely linked to the Thanksgiving holidays.

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Since then, Black Friday was officially a day when the commencement of holiday season shopping started. Black Friday now is a positive term for retailers as it increased their sales and gave an increased surge in economic growth.

Several retailers and brands offer humungous discounts, which results in long queues of people in these retail stores. Each year, because of the massive demand, these stores start opening at midnight, and even then, the sale items go out of stock quickly.

Black Friday Became a Global Phenomenon.

Although Black Friday does not have any religious or cultural significance attached to it, it is a widely observed unofficial holiday in the States. Nearly 20 different countries have now come up with their own Black Friday. Countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, etc., have started partaking in Black Friday in their own ways.

Even online retailers have come up with Cyber Monday on Monday followed by Black Friday to promote sale items online.

In Mexico, El Buen Fin (The Good Weekend) originated in November of 2011, the weekend before the Monday of the Mexican Revolution Holiday. Similarly, In India, the Great Indian Shopping Festival was introduced in 2012 after getting inspired by Black Friday sales. In Germany, Black Friday is referred to as Black Week and Black Shopping with sales lasting an entire week.

Black Friday paved the way and established a standard for numerous other shopping holidays around the world. Black Friday used to only be associated with Army-Navy football games and Thanksgiving. Currently, it is regarded as the start of the Christmas holiday shopping season.

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