Impact of Black Friday on Society
We already know that the "Black Friday" is an American tradition that consists of a drop in prices in major stores, during the last Friday of November, coinciding with the opening of Christmas shopping. But what is the origin of this celebration?
The first use of the term "Black Friday" occurred not to refer to Christmas shopping, but in relation to an economic crisis: on Friday, September 24, 1869, two relentless Wall Street financiers, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, After an intense work to obtain great benefits, they failed in their efforts, and the market went bankrupt. For that reason, that day was named as the "Black Friday".
Another of the stories that accompany the term "Black Friday" has to do with the role of small businesses in the market. Tradition has it that, after a whole year of losses, finally, after Thanksgiving, the Christmas season arrived, the day from which the benefits began, and with them, instead of red numbers, "black numbers" were produced.
The tradition is indeed a positive practice for the economy of a country, simultaneously, gives the possibility to millions of hard workers to recover their lost through the year, and to bring back their numbers. Also it gives the opportunity to small business to create more profits through advertising their products.
Perhaps it is opposite to peoples believes and morals about what Christmas should be about, the Black Friday, which is such a cold and unsensitive celebration it is
After the crash, many business failed, banks closed, and because of that, lots of workers were out of job. Homes and farms had been lost to foreclosure. In 1933, the government finally decided to do something, congress passed the Securities Act of 1933, which required companies that sold stocks and other securities to communicate important information to consumers and set up systems to prevent fraud. The law was strengthened in 1934 when congress created the Securities and Exchange commission (“Black Tuesday”). Herbert Hoover, the president of US during this event, thought the stock market would get better within 60 days (Stock). The crash also helped lead to the onset of the Great Depression by undermining confidence in the economy, but it
These many reasons were the stock market crash, bank failures, unemployment, economic policy, and drought conditions. On October 24, 1929, the stock market dramatically decreased at the opening of the bell. “At first, economists and leaders thought this was a mild bump, perhaps merely a correction of the market, or in any case, no worse than the recession the nation suffered after World War I.” However, on October 27, 1929, also known as Black Tuesday, the market crashed and many Americans lost billions of investment. Therefore, many investors halt any money flow.
Document two explains what happened when the banks went out of business. Black Tuesday was in October 29, 1929 and it was the day that the stock market crashed most deeply. This hinted to the start of the Great Depression. The stock market crashed because people did not have enough money to pay back the people who they borrowed money from. Due to this process the market started to fall. With prices falling, brokers asked investors to pay back what they owed. Investors then sold their stock to repay their loans. A panic quickly set in. Between October 24 and October 29, desperate people tried to unload millions of shares. As a result, stock prices dropped even further. Banks were also running out of
The market also takes advantage on this holiday, even though the income from each product is a little bit less than the regular price, they tend to sell many products more than the regular business days. The market can also take advantage and sell products in which were not sold in the previous season. Black Friday is also good for advertising products. There were quite a few stores in the mall that were handing samples to try their product.
Indeed, the stock market crash triggered this event, however the vastly poor distribution of wealth, the wages of industrial workers, and the profitless work of farmers all added up to this downfall. In addition, high tariffs set by the U.S. made it difficult for foreign nations to sell goods to them and to buy goods in return. And to make things better, banks were failing and in result wiping out life savings of hundreds of people. The last straw was drawn when the stock market hesitated and investors began to sell their stocks for fear of what could happen. Brokers jammed the stocks as they attempted to unload shares. This grave dip became a panic that would be known as black Thursday. The following Tuesday all stocks had lost six-sevenths of their value, and it would be appropriately called black Tuesday. With thousands of people’s life savings gone overnight, the economy suffered immensely. Due to the lack of money people began to stop buying goods. To make up for the lack of revenue, businesses laid off countless workers to decrease the price of their outputs. This only furthered the issue into a never ending cycle. People now without jobs could not afford goods, and businesses continued to lay off its workers to stay profitable. Millions of Americans lived in poverty at this time, many unable to buy the
As Black Friday has progressed along with retailors marketing their products and their sales, it has become a national day of shopping to get the best deals. Americans mainly go shopping on this day to get huge deals for Christmas presents. Stores have even taken this great opportunity to open their establishments for 24 hours. Just last year, consumers spent a whopping $57,400,000,000 with each consumer individually spending $410 on average. The #1 retailor customers purchased from and camped out at was Best Buy. All of the statistics are based on 2013 and this year was projected to be an 11% increase.
It forces them to understand the fundamentals of the economy and how much power the money holds. If there's one thing humans need to learn, it is the ability to live without spending constantly. Another thing is this holiday prepares them for a shortage of power or possibly food. It is no surprise that a lot of people can not go a day without buying. This is a major problem as it wastes a) consumer's time b)producer's time and c)resources.
Thanksgiving traditions don't end on Thanksgiving Day. In the 1950s, the day after Thanksgiving was called Black Friday by factory managers because so many workers called in sick and the Philadelphia Police Department took to calling the day Black Friday to describe the traffic jams, crowds and shoplifters during the start of the holiday shopping season. Black Friday signals the start of the holiday shopping season, but it may be a tradition that's continuing to evolve as stores vie to be the earliest to open Thanksgiving Day.
First, it all started when new inventions were coming out such as refrigerators and automobiles. People who could not afford them in the first place were buying them off credit. So already people had become in debt (Hayes). Then the stocks started to deplete and people got nervous and tried to sell them in a hurry. This caused the market to crash and everyone lost their money in the bank. At first the poor thought the rich could only be affected but soon that was not the case (Hayes). This day became known as Black Thursday and will be remembered forever.
Around the holidays, the department stores steps up is discount game even more. The Kohl’s Black Friday sale is actually a shopping extravaganza that begins before Thanksgiving and lasts after the Biggest Shopping Day of the Year.
It was during the 1920’s that the U.S stock market expanded rapidly until it reached its peak in August 1929. By that time, unemployment had risen and production had already declined. This left stocks in great excess of their real value. Other causes that led to the stock market crash was the rapid increase of debt, low wages, an agricultural sector that was struggling, and a large amount of bank loans that could not be liquidated or paid off. In September and early October 1929, stock prices began to drop. The fall began on October 18 and on October 24, otherwise known as Black Thursday, 12,894,650 shares were traded. Bankers and investors tried to get the market to stabilize by buying a great amount of stocks, which produced a rally on Friday, October 25. On October 29, which was also known as Black Tuesday the stocks dropped completely and billions of dollars were lost. This caused thousands of investors to be wiped
Black Tuesday, what seemed to have started it all. On black Tuesday, which is more commonly known as the Crash of 1929 was a day where billions of dollars were lost. The Wall Street investors shared 16 million in one day. This was tragic for them. This was the beginning of The Great Depression.
Greed is among us and within Americans all the time, but one night a year it comes out in the worst way possible… Black Friday shopping. Black Friday happens every year the day after Thanksgiving, where stores put big sales on their products and open their doors early in the morning waiting for the chaos to commence. During the time of the sales people become greedy and crazy and are willing to do almost anything just to try and save a couple of dollars. Every year on the news people hear about all of the injuries and even deaths that take place during Black Friday. During this time greed gets the best of a lot of people, and you can see images of people diving on top of each other like they are objects just to get a good deal. These people have just come from Thanksgiving where they talk about how they are thankful for everything that they have, but then a couple of hours later they become crazy trying to get more stuff. In the TV episode Black Friday from the TV show Superstore they are able to portray what happens during the early mornings of Black Friday. Within the episode they are really able to portray how greed gets the best of us and how crazy people can really become just trying to get good deals on this terrible night.
Holidays have always been known to affect our consumer culture for many years, but how it all began eludes many people and very few studies have been completed on it. Even though some say that the subject is too broad to precisely identify how holidays, especially Christmas, directly affect our market, I have found that people’s values, expectations and rituals related to holidays can cause an excessive amount of spending among our society. Most people are unaware that over the centuries holidays have become such a profitable time of year for industries that they now starting to promote gift ideas on an average of a month and a half ahead of actual holiday dates to meet consumer demands.
People may get caught up in the excitement of the day, and that can help them to spend even more money. While waiting in line, customers at the front of the line seem to be excited and happy. However, at the end of the line, customers appear to be more frustrated and anxious. Some consumers plan their Black Friday shopping trips weeks in advance. There are many websites available for people to view Black Friday advertisements online, before they are supposed to be released to the public. Walmart has tried year after year for the advertisements not to be leaked, but they usually end up on these websites before they are supposed to (4 Years Strong: Walmart Sends Another Cease & Desist, 2011). Stores may not want to have their advertisements released early for a couple of reasons. First, consumers having the ability to research products and having too much time to explore all of their options may mean that consumers will not make as many spontaneous purchases on Black Friday. They also do not want to have their competition see their deals, and then have them beat their prices. Having the advertisements earlier though means consumers are able to plan what stores they want to go to, which may lead to less chaos on the actual day. People are motivated by saving money on Black Friday. Some consumers may even see it as a competition. For some, because there is only a limited selection available for many of the items that are