Black Friday is coming soon. This annual event marks the official start of the Christmas shopping season.
A host of retailers will reduce prices on gift items such as electronics, homeware, and clothes. Some retailers offer early black friday US discounts before the official event date. How did this Black Friday shopping spree begin?
What is Black Friday 2021?
Black Friday is the day immediately following Thanksgiving. This year, it falls on November 25, this year. In 2021, Black Friday will be on November 26.
Origins of Black Friday
According to some reports, the phrase “black friday coupons” was first used in Pennsylvania in the 1960s. This was due to large crowds that day.
David Zyla, author of How to Win at Shopping,the Philadelphia Police Department used this phrase to describe “traffic jams and intense crowding in downtown retail stores,” according to the HuffPost report from 2020.
Zyla stated that one of the earliest uses of the term in print was in an ad in the 1966 issue of, a magazine for stamp collectors.
An archived excerpt of the ad was found in a thread on The Linguist List. It stated that Black Friday was the name given by the Philadelphia Police to the Friday after Thanksgiving Day.
It is not a term they use to endear themselves with. “cyber monday deals black friday” officially opens the Christmas shopping season in the central city. It usually causes massive traffic jams and crowds on the sidewalks, as downtown stores are crowded from opening to close,” the archived excerpt said.
Many retailers were not happy with the negative connotation of Black Friday. The phrase also dates back to September 24, 1869 in America, when gold prices dropped and caused panic in the securities markets.
According to Public Relations News (an industry newsletter), public relations professionals tried to make it positive as early as 1961.
It read: “Hardly stimulating good business, the merchants discussed the issue with Abe S. Rosen (a seasoned municipal PR executive)
According to the newsletter, “He suggested adopting a positive approach that would convert Black Friday & Black Saturday into Big Friday & Big Saturday.”
Although the name “Big Friday” wasn’t a popular term, shoppers started to associate the day with increased discounts, according to HuffPost.
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Since the inception of “Black Friday”, the idea of linking retail sales to Friday after Thanksgiving has existed for a longer time than “Black Friday”.
A 2013 HuffPost article states that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt moved the date for Thanksgiving to the penultimate day of November 1939 after being pressured by the Retail Dry Goods Association.
Retailers expressed concern that the shorter holiday shopping season might negatively impact sales. Thanksgiving fell on November 30, 1939.
Many retailers and customers ignored this new date, instead calling it Franks giving. Congress passed in 1941 a law stating that Thanksgiving would be observed every fourth Thursday of each month.
According to some reports, the phrase “black friday coupons” was first used in Pennsylvania in the 1960s. This was due to large crowds that day.
David Zyla, author of How to Win at Shopping,the Philadelphia Police Department used this phrase to describe “traffic jams and intense crowding in downtown retail stores,” according to the HuffPost report from 2020.
Zyla stated that one of the earliest uses of the term in print was in an ad in the 1966 issue of, a magazine for stamp collectors.
An archived excerpt of the ad was found in a thread on The Linguist List. It stated that Black Friday was the name given by the Philadelphia Police to the Friday after Thanksgiving Day.