The origin of Black Friday is not exempt from controversy, from slavery to stock market manipulation or traffic chaos, some theories have already been discarded as unfounded myths, although others continue to circulate through the networks.What is clear is its geographical scope, it originated, without a doubt, in the United States.
Let's start at the beginning, Mississippi was one of the most prosperous states in the mid -nineteenth century.The cotton plantations flourished and even had labor left, this was an extra expense for landowners, which would have led them to sell their slaves with great discounts.The chosen day, the Friday following Thanksgiving.A certainly suggestive, but false story is a myth.
Years later, on Friday, September 24, 1869, two Wall Street agents try to monopolize the entire gold market to get rich.Jay Gould and Jim Fisk's plan included a famous New York politician, Boss Tweed.The three tried without success to several judges and other relevant personalities, although they failed in the attempt.
This Black Friday, many investors were ruined by the handling of the stockbrokers.The price of gold collapsed in a few minutes, although the brokers got the scandal to fall without suffering great financial damage.Three years after this Black Friday, in 1872, Fush died murdered.
The great Depression
We continue with the evolution of the financial markets and we reach Black Thursday, the stock market crack of October 24, 1929 that took the life, jobs and savings of thousands of people ahead.The biggest collapse of the history of Wall Street that caused the great depression.
With this sad panorama, the owner of the New York Macy’s department stores, Fred Lazarus, was looking for a way to reactivate sales and boost prenavideños.He needed to advance the Thanksgiving date to have a longer period, of one month, and encourage consumption for parties.
In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt listened to his prayers and signed a decree to advance thanks for a week.From that moment on, Thanksgiving would be the fourth Thursday of November, instead of last Thursday to extend the shopping season prior to Christmas.
Collapse in Philadelphia
The turkey in thanksgiving, the prenavideñas purchases and a great American football match.Three American traditions that concentrated in just three days in Philadelphia and collapsed the city.
On November 28, 1952 there was no pin in the streets of Philadelphia, the traffic was chaotic, with agglomerations in shops and urban buses they hardly circulated by the accumulation of vehicles.It was Friday and the next day the traditional American football match was held between the cadets of the Naval Academy of Annapolis and those of West Point.
The Navy team won the game 7-0 to the Navy, but that's the least.The public services of Philadelphia had to throw the rest and continue working tirelessly.The police doubled the turn to avoid tumults.Agents and bus drivers began to refer to the day as Black Friday.
On the front page
The term of Black Friday jumped to the press years later, in 1961, two reporters of The Philadelphia Bulletin, Joseph P. Barrett and Nathan Kleger, used the police concept in first page information to refer to the “terrible situation of the situation of theTraffic ”in the city.The merchants complained that talking about Black Friday would discourage customers to approach their businesses, it was in vain, it was already too late.
As a curiosity, the Expression Black Friday was also used in November 1961 in an academic article of the edition of Factory Management and Maintenance, entitled "Friday, After Thankgiving."In this case, he referred to the absenteeism that shot in companies the Friday following thanksgiving possibly for ethyl excesses to digest roasted turkey.
Big Friday
We return to Philadelphia, 1962. The merchants still do not like the Black Friday and try to change the name for Big Friday, denomination that appears even in the official police statements of the police, without success.
If you cannot defeat your enemy, join him, they had to think and tried to resignify Black Friday as something positive.Here comes the best known version of its origin.The Black Friday gave the departure gun to the Christmas campaign and it was the day when sales passed from red numbers (losses) to black (profits) in their balances.This redefinition linked Black Friday to the consumption party.
The term extended in the United States and in 1966 it appeared printed in The American Philatelist, but the final support received it in 1975, when The New York Times spoke again of Black Friday to describe purchases, after a day of actionOf thanks for water, which dazzled the traditional parade through the streets of the Big Apple.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the tendency to extend the day of consumption begins.Thus, in 2003, Walmart and Sears department stores offer great discounts before five or six in the morning.In 2011, Walmart does not even wait for Thanksgiving and opens the doors to his customers from ten o'clock at night.
Green Friday
The consumption unfortunate on this date has generated its antithesis with the birth of Green Friday in 2015, a European initiative that seeksReturns or poor quality clothes that we discard after few uses.
It arrives in Spain
In Spain the Black Friday tradition is introduced in November 2012 by the hand of the German Media Mark chain.Before this date, it could not have been implemented because the periods of sales were limited by law, while now offers can be made all year.
In 2013, El Corte Inglés and Amazon give the blessing to this shopping day and the popularity of Black Friday hatch in Spain.In 2015, the American tradition also reaches traditional shops, which offer great discounts in the last half of November.
As a sample of its implementation, about 70 % of Spanish Internet users use electronic commerce on these dates, a percentage that has remained without great oscillations since 2017. Some cybercriminals take advantage of the increase in transactions to steal bank data.
Despite this stabilization, the average expenditure grows in Spain by 20 % year -on -year, up to 180 euros per internet user, according to the Black Friday 2021 report made by Webloyalty.The most demanded products are electronic, followed by cosmetics and fashion.
In case the Black Friday was not enough, to take advantage of the pull, the cyber monday arrives later on Monday, November 29, where discounts will concentrate on electronics (mobiles, computers, tablets or smart watches) and on internet purchases.
