I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm already sick of all these Black Friday commercials. Yes, I know, I know the "official" Black Friday is next week, but these ads have been running for weeks. One of these days, I swear, Black Friday ads will start in July. π
shareIt is an annoying development but during commercials I tend to go on my phone and ignore the tv ads for a couple minutes. I'm a big fan of trade so if jobs get created and money is exchanged I feel like it's a good thing, but yes, 'Black Friday' is a corny, fake commercial concept. Apparently the B List products are mostly marketed, NOT the top of the line electronics, etc.
shareThese After-Thanksgiving Sales (the proper term) are some of the biggest scams ever conceived. The retailers mark up the prices and then place a "40% off" tag on the merchandise. There are other sales being conducted during the rest of the year that offer much better savings than this bogus event.
Yet year after year the general public continues to fall for the hype. They push, shove and trample one another over some shoddy imported junk. The Thanksgiving weekend has been ruined because of greed, commercialism and materialism.
I believe you - mark up to mark down. Or β¬οΈ to β¬οΈ and I've seen it firsthand. Also, companies order cheap stuff they don't normally sell, but sell it because they were able to get some kind of big price break on said cheap stuff.
These days, I think the worst shopping day is the day after Christmas (Boxing Day for our UK friends). Clearance sales are a high-powered magnet for many people. I worked for a major retailer (not Walmart) for many years, and the bargain hunters were savage in their quest, pushing, shoving, and outright running behind their shopping carts to the seasonal section at the back of the store.
The store was completely trashed within the first couple of hours. And then there are all the returns/exchanges to deal with. Once I was no longer on the front lines, I never shopped on Black Friday nor the day after Christmas - both are a nightmare. I imagine some of that has changed with online ordering now, but still...
And so many Pre-Black Friday sales! I love a bargain as much as the next person, but yes, I agree with you.
shareHey, it's called African American Friday.
In all seriousness, I don't think I've seen any this year.
It actually means "Profit Friday." The "black" comes from the accounting term "in the black" or turning a profit. This goes back to the days when accountants entered figures into ledger books, using black ink to indicate gains and red ink for losses. The After-Thanksgiving Sales (the proper term) were highly profitable for the giant American retailers, so "(in the) black Friday" became industry jargon. The media got wind of the term and began using it, and it eventually entered the vernacular sometime around the mid-1990s. It's a celebration of money and materialism which has overshadowed a day which was set aside to be thankful. How often does Thanksgiving Day get mentioned compared to the bogus term "Black Friday"?
"Profit Friday" is not what the holiday season is about.
I'm aware. It's just an old joke that I keep making.
shareIn the past they usually waited until the minute Halloween ended, and then the dam would break and we would be deluged with commercials. This year I began seeing this garbage already in late September.
Leave it to the major retailers and the advertising industry to ruin what should be a special time of year.
"Black Friday" is industry jargon coined by the giant retailers, from the accounting term "in the black," meaning turning a profit. This is not what the holiday season is about. And it's a shame that this rubbish has crossed the border into Canada and now into Europe.
For those who live in the U.S. the day after Thanksgiving Day is simply that... the day after Thanksgiving. If you live outside of the U.S. it's simply another day in November.
Maybe they should change it to "Green Friday" for all the $$$ they expect to bring in. More keeping with the red/green Christmas theme.
shareI'm not sick of them because I never see them! It's been at least three years since I cancelled my DirectTV. I would've cancelled ANY cable company at the time. I figured out that I was paying to watch hours of stupid commercials.
Now I watch only the movies or TV shows in my collection (and my collection is growing). No more mind numbing ads that used to irritate me. And I don't miss TV at all.
I only see the ads when I watch something on Tubi, FreeVee, or Pluto. That's why I watch most shows/movies on BritBox or PBS - no ads. Oops. To be fair, PBS runs a 30-second ad before a show, but it's an ad to promote a different show on their platform.
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