With the retail holiday of Black Friday following Thanksgiving, comes chaos. Retail shoppers flood stores to get their hands on products to get an advance on Christmas shopping.
Black Friday originates from the Philadelphia police; they used the term Black Friday to describe the influx of people that flooded the city before the Army-Navy game that took place every year on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. The term had a negative connotation to reflect the chaotic circumstances the police had to endure.
In the 1980s, retail shops took the term Black Friday and made it into a retail holiday to make more money ahead of the holiday season. Philadelphia merchants attempted to remove the negative connotation by calling it “Big Friday.” The term was later referred to Black Friday again because the holiday is believed to move businesses from “in the red” — where businesses operate at a financial loss — to “in the black” — where businesses are expected to earn profit.
The holiday still holds a chaotic and negative connotation even after the name change. From 2006 to 2021, there have been 17 deaths and 121 injuries that have resulted from the chaos of Black Friday. The idea that products are scarce makes people more likely to act aggressively while shopping. An incident in 2008 resulted in a Walmart employee being trampled to death by a stampede of customers. The greed of customers leads to irrational decision-making, and in extreme cases, it has resulted in death.
The amplified consumerism as a result of Black Friday is accompanied by bad deals. Some marketing schemes include increasing the price of a product and come Black Friday, reducing the price to the original price making it seem like a good deal. More scams and fake designer brands are being sold to consumers for exorbitant prices during the holiday season. Corporations are also more likely to push out products in mass amounts which can lead to quality issues and cheaply made goods with shorter lifespans.
During Black Friday, there are long crowds and people lined up looking for good deals. In reality, the deals are not what they used to be. The prices of the sales are being raised, and it is not worth the long wait to get mediocre products for near full price. The retail holiday promotes materialism and leads to overconsumption. Since the creation of Black Friday, every holiday season has come with greed, and people forget what the holiday season represents.
