Every year, retailers cheerfully announce their "Black Friday" sales as if it's a celebration. They'll even tell you a nice story about how stores finally go "into the black" (profitable) after this shopping day. That's a complete lie created by the retail industry to cover up the term's disturbing origins.
The term "Black Friday" was actually coined by Philadelphia police officers in the 1950s and 1960s – and it had nothing to do with accounting books or profits.
Police called it "Black Friday" because the day after Thanksgiving was absolute chaos in Philadelphia. Massive crowds of shoppers and tourists descended on the city for the Army-Navy football game held on Saturday. The streets became dangerously overcrowded, stores were packed beyond capacity, and shoplifters had a field day.
Police officers couldn't take the day off and had to work exhausting 12-hour shifts or longer dealing with traffic accidents, fights, overwhelming crowds, and rampant theft. For Philadelphia cops, it was one of the worst days of the year – hence "Black Friday."
The term spread throughout Philadelphia and into the retail community by the early 1960s. Store owners absolutely hated it. They tried desperately to change it to "Big Friday" to make it sound more positive. That rebrand failed miserably.
By the 1980s, retailers realized they were stuck with "Black Friday" and needed damage control. That's when they invented the myth about "going into the black" – the accounting term for becoming profitable, as opposed to being "in the red" (operating at a loss).
The accounting explanation sounded legitimate enough that it caught on nationwide. It was so much better than admitting the day was named after police officers' nightmare shifts dealing with chaos and crime.
Here's the kicker: most retailers don't actually become profitable on Black Friday anyway. Many stores have been profitable since much earlier in the year. The whole "into the black" story was pure marketing spin.
So every time you see a cheerful "Black Friday" advertisement, remember: you're looking at one of retail's most successful rebranding campaigns. They took a term that meant "terrible day for law enforcement" and convinced everyone it was about exciting shopping deals and store profitability.
