Black Friday Fan Culture

Chloe Church

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is considered to be one of the most popular shopping days of the year. It's a day where everything is actually priced how it should be. Who would miss out on that? Exactly, no one. Hence why it is such a chaotic day. Some stores start their sales as early as midnight! Stores relay their sales information to us through newspaper, commercials, emails, social media and even mail. Websites are set up purely dedicated to show you what black friday sales are in your area. (https://blackfriday.com/) Black Friday is advertized as a day to shop with family and friends. That's how this day used to be, until it started becoming violent.

Stores lure shoppers in with announcing over the top limited sales such as “100’s of spectacular doorbusters” and “Our lowest prices ever!”. Black Friday received its name from after an entire year of operating at a loss (“in the red”) stores earn their profit (“went into the black”) on the day after Thanksgiving, because holiday shoppers blow so much money on discounted merchandise.

Black Friday is a unique day because it only happens once a year and it's supposed to be a time to spend with friends and family. It also is only celebrated in our country, which makes the day even more special. It's a time for the whole community to get together and shop great deals. Others take Black Friday to a whole other level.

The extremities that people go through to attend this event is outrageous, it gets much worse each year. One of the most ridiculous cases in my opinion occurred in 2008. A crowd outside of a Wal-Mart waited impatiently for the midnight opening of the store, just hours after being thankful for what they already had. Some people even skipped the Thanksgiving family time to be in the front of the line. Unfortunately, the Wal-Mart never actually opened. The crowd literally kicked down the doors before the employees opened them, and as thousands of people ran into the Wal-Mart, an...