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How Black Friday and Cyber Monday Are Losing Their Meaning (time.com)
HughPickens.com writes: Brad Tuttle reports at Money Magazine that while the terms "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" are more ubiquitous than ever, the importance of the can't-miss shopping days is undeniably fading. Retailers seem to want it both ways: They want shoppers to spend money long before these key shopping events, and yet they also want shoppers to turn out in full force to make purchases over the epic Black Friday weekend. When they use the "Cheap Stuff!" card day after day and week after week, the deals on any single day stop seeming special. Add to that the trend of manufacturers creating stripped-down versions of their electronics to sell on Black Friday, and consumers have less reason than ever to flood retail stores.
The true story behind Black Friday is not as sunny as retailers might have you believe. Back in the 1950s, police in the city of Philadelphia used the term to describe the chaos that ensued on the day after Thanksgiving, when hordes of suburban shoppers and tourists flooded into the city in advance of the big Army-Navy football game held on that Saturday every year. Shoplifters would also take advantage of the bedlam in stores to make off with merchandise, adding to the law enforcement headache. Sometime in the late 1980s, however, retailers found a way to reinvent Black Friday and turn it into something that reflected positively, rather than negatively, on them and their customers. The result was the "red to black" concept of the holiday mentioned earlier, and the notion that the day after Thanksgiving marked the occasion when America's stores finally turned a profit.
The true story behind Black Friday is not as sunny as retailers might have you believe. Back in the 1950s, police in the city of Philadelphia used the term to describe the chaos that ensued on the day after Thanksgiving, when hordes of suburban shoppers and tourists flooded into the city in advance of the big Army-Navy football game held on that Saturday every year. Shoplifters would also take advantage of the bedlam in stores to make off with merchandise, adding to the law enforcement headache. Sometime in the late 1980s, however, retailers found a way to reinvent Black Friday and turn it into something that reflected positively, rather than negatively, on them and their customers. The result was the "red to black" concept of the holiday mentioned earlier, and the notion that the day after Thanksgiving marked the occasion when America's stores finally turned a profit.
the sooner those preposterous feeding frenzies are history, the better.
.... and possibly for others who were in the area at the time who lost friends or family to the event, this is what I shall forever associate with "Black Friday": link.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
"manufacturers creating stripped-down versions of their electronics" Good, as long as the spyware and useless crap is stripped out.
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These aren't days with any real significance other than the usual "quick, come buy shit".
It's not like these dates have any significance, and they're pretty much entirely fabricated by and for retail industries for their own benefit.
I've been hearing ads talking about "Black Friday Week Savings" ... whatever. It's just marketing hype and bullshit.
Yo Dawg, we hear you like sales, so we have a pre-sale so you can buy stuff while you're waiting for the sale where you can buy stuff before the next sale, for which we'll have a pre-sale and hype it even more.
Sorry, but just because corporations want a two month long shopping frenzy doesn't mean we need to care.
Stop buying shit you don't need because some asshole in marketing is telling you need to run out today and buy it. How did these clowns get everyone acting like trained fucking monkeys?
I'm so glad we've given up on the whole Christmas gift thing ... pretty much from before Halloween until middle of January it's one big, over-hyped retail cycle which has NOTHING to do with ANYTHING except corporate profits and pointless consumerism.
Losing their meaning -- what a pathetic statement.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Can't we just say that all Fridays matter?
Letting him get out all over the rest of the year just ruins everything.
There is an analog between how the Christmas holiday season keeps getting pushed earlier into the year vs the current disfunction of the economy as a whole. Both are attempting to compensate for poor performance by pulling forward whatever demand there is. For retail this means earlier and deeper sales. For the economy it means greater (and longer duration) fiscal and economic stimulus.
And ruin a brand new crockpot? Are you nuts?!
Boy, I so hate that term. It conotates everything that is wrong with this whole Black Friday thing.
"Never give up, for that is just the time and place when the tide will change." -Harriet Beecher Stowe ^_^
You're confusing it with "Good Friday".