You’ve seen the videos. Those grainy, chaotic clips of people sprinting through sliding glass doors at 5:00 AM, diving over piles of discounted slow cookers. It feels like a fever dream now, especially since we mostly shop from our couches in pajamas. But have you ever stopped to wonder why we call it that? The meaning of Black Friday isn't just one thing. It's a messy mix of police frustration, accounting myths, and a very clever PR rebrand that took place decades ago.
Most people think they know the story. You probably heard the "In the Black" version in school or from a well-meaning relative. But the truth is way grittier.
The Gritty Origin Story Nobody Tells You
The term didn't start with happy shoppers or soaring profits. It actually started with a headache. A massive, city-wide, Philadelphia-sized headache.
Back in the 1950s, the Philadelphia Police Department started using "Black Friday" to describe the day after Thanksgiving. It wasn't a compliment. Because the city hosted the Army-Navy football game on that Saturday, thousands of tourists and suburbanites flooded into Philly on Friday.
The cops hated it.
They had to work twelve-hour shifts. They couldn't take the day off. Traffic was a nightmare. Shoplifters took advantage of the crowds to make off with merchandise while store security was distracted. For the police, it was a "black" day in the same way the "Black Plague" or "Black Monday" (the 1929 stock market crash) were bad things. It was a day of professional misery.
The Failed Attempt to Rename It
By the early 1960s, retailers in Philadelphia realized that having a name associated with traffic jams and crime wasn't great for business. Who wants to go to a "Black Friday" sale if it sounds like a disaster?
They tried to change it to "Big Friday."
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Seriously.
They put out press releases. They tried to get the newspapers to use the new name to make the day sound festive and grand. It bombed. People stuck with Black Friday because, honestly, it sounded cooler and more intense. The name had already taken root in the local lexicon, and once a nickname sticks, you're pretty much stuck with it for life.
From Red Ink to Black Ink: The Great Accounting Myth
Since they couldn't kill the name, the retail industry decided to flip the script. This is where the most common meaning of Black Friday comes from—the accounting version.
In the old days, accountants recorded losses in red ink and profits in black ink. For many struggling retailers, the entire year was spent "in the red." They were barely keeping the lights on. But once Thanksgiving hit, the holiday shopping surge supposedly pushed their finances into the "black."
It’s a great story. It makes the day sound like a celebration of American commerce and the survival of the neighborhood shop. Is it true? Kinda. While the holiday season is definitely make-or-break for retail, the "red-to-black" explanation was mostly a PR move in the 1980s to scrub away the negative connotations of the Philadelphia police origins. They took a term for a traffic jam and turned it into a term for a gold mine.
The 19th Century "Black Friday" That Had Nothing to Do with Shopping
We should probably clear something up. If you look through historical archives, you’ll find another "Black Friday" that happened on September 24, 1869.
This had zero to do with flat-screen TVs.
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It was a massive financial gold crash. Two Wall Street financiers, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, tried to corner the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange. They bought up as much as they could to drive prices sky-high. When the government stepped in and flooded the market with gold to break the corner, the price plummeted. Fortunes were lost in minutes.
It’s a completely different event, but it shows that in English, "Black [Day of the Week]" almost always meant a day of financial ruin or social chaos. The fact that we now use it to describe a "fun" shopping holiday is a testament to how effectively marketing can change the way we think.
Why the Meaning of Black Friday is Changing (Again)
If you walked into a Best Buy last November, you might have noticed something weird. It wasn't that crowded.
The traditional meaning of Black Friday—a single day of doorbuster deals—is basically dead. We’re in the era of "Black November."
- The Amazon Effect: Since 2005, Cyber Monday has been eating Black Friday's lunch. People realized they didn't want to get punched in a Walmart parking lot for a $200 laptop when they could buy it on their phone.
- Creeping Sales: Retailers started opening on Thanksgiving Day (which sparked a huge backlash and "Save Thanksgiving" movements). Now, they just start sales on November 1st.
- The Global Spread: Even though Thanksgiving is an American holiday, Black Friday is now huge in the UK, Brazil, and China. In those places, the name just means "big discounts," with zero connection to pilgrims or turkey.
According to data from the National Retail Federation (NRF), more people now shop online over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend than in-store. The "meaning" has shifted from a physical event to a digital one. It’s less about the "Black" of the accounting ledger and more about the "Black" of the smartphone screen.
Fact-Checking the Darker Rumors
You might have seen a viral post on social media claiming Black Friday started in the 1800s as a day when slave owners could buy enslaved people at a discount.
This is 100% false.
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There is no historical evidence, no newspaper records, and no slave auction logs that support this. It’s a modern internet myth that resurfaces every year. As we’ve seen, the term’s actual roots in the 1950s Philadelphia police records are well-documented by linguists like Bonnie Taylor-Blake. It's important to stick to the actual history, even if the real story is just about traffic and grumpy cops.
How to Actually Win on Black Friday Nowadays
Since the day has changed, your strategy has to change too. Honestly, the "doorbuster" is mostly a bait-and-switch. Stores offer five units of a super-cheap TV to get you in the door, hoping you'll buy the expensive stuff once the cheap one is sold out.
- Track Prices Beforehand: Use tools like CamelCamelCamel (for Amazon) or Honey. A lot of "Black Friday deals" are just the normal price with a fake "original price" marked up to make the discount look bigger.
- Ignore the Hype Cycles: The best time to buy electronics is often late October or even early January during "open-box" season.
- Check Social Media for "Leak" Ads: Retailers still print circulars, but the best deals are often leaked on Reddit or specialized deal forums weeks in advance.
- Wait for Monday: If it’s software, clothes, or small appliances, Cyber Monday almost always has better coupon codes than Friday.
What This Means for the Future
We are likely moving toward a world where "Black Friday" is just a season. The "meaning" will continue to evolve from a day of chaos into a month of algorithmic price drops.
Some brands are even moving in the opposite direction. REI famously started the "Opt Outside" movement, closing their doors on Friday and paying employees to go hiking. For them, the meaning of Black Friday is a day to reject consumerism altogether.
Whether you're hunting for a 75-inch OLED or intentionally staying in the woods, the day has become a mirror of our culture. It’s part accounting trick, part police history, and part digital shopping spree.
Actionable Takeaways for the Next Sale
- Verify the "Original Price": Never trust a "60% Off" sticker. Google the model number to see what it cost in August.
- Prioritize Local: Many small businesses now run "Small Business Saturday" to compete with the big-box Friday madness.
- Set a Hard Budget: The psychological "meaning" of the day is designed to make you feel scarcity. Remind yourself that there will always be another sale.
- Security Check: If you're shopping online, use a credit card instead of a debit card for better fraud protection during the high-traffic season.
The day isn't what it used to be, and that's probably a good thing for everyone's stress levels. Understanding where it came from helps you see through the marketing noise and decide if that "deal" is actually worth your time.