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Black Friday (hoax)

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The Black Friday hoax is an internet hoax about the origin of the term "Black Friday." The term denotes the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States, a day that traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season.[1] A post shared on social networks since at least 2013[2] makes the false claim that the name derives from a day when slave traders sold slaves at a discount. The term actually originates from a 19th century financial crisis.

The hoax[edit]

The hoax claims that the term Black Friday was originally used for "the day after Thanksgiving" when slave traders sold slaves at a discount for the upcoming winter. One of the posts was accompanied by a "1904 photo" claiming to show African slaves in America,[3] but which actually depicts Aboriginal prisoners in Wyndham, Australia from around that time.[4][5] The image dates from at least 2013,[2] and appeared on Facebook in 2018[6] and 2019.[3]

It is one of many "fanciful" claims that have surfaced over time due to the term's distant and convoluted historical provenance[2] but it caught on and remains a viral phenomenon[7] that regularly appears around the time of the eponymous holiday,[8] on various social media platforms, including Twitter.[5]

The claim has been debunked as a hoax by experts and the media,[9][10][4][5][8] including African online media and fact-checking websites,[11][12] but remains popular.[13]

The term “Black Friday” was first used in relation to a 19th-century financial crisis,[14] and became associated with a specific social disturbance, and indirectly with retail finances. In the late 1980s, the term was re-invented and promoted by retailers to denote the discounts offered to the seasonal shoppers and it spread nationwide across the United States.[14] Through the years, discount-offer days using the "Black Friday" moniker were used for additional dates of the year, such as Amazon's "Black Friday in July" of 2015.[15] Additionally, the use of the term for discount-offer Fridays spread beyond the U.S.[16] It remains the prevalent use of the term.[n 1]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Retailers have tried to avoid the "negative" adjective "Black" and tried for "Big Friday" but the name did not catch on. See BBC (2014)

References[edit]

  1. ^ Swilley, Esther; Goldsmith, Ronald E. (1 January 2013). "Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Understanding consumer intentions on two major shopping days". Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services. 20 (1): 43–50. doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2012.10.003. hdl:2097/15213. ISSN 0969-6989. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Mikkelson, David (30 November 2013). "How Did 'Black Friday' Get Its Name?". Snopes. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  3. ^ a b "True?". Facebook. 24 November 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  4. ^ a b Daley, Paul (19 June 2019). "The legacy reverberates: how a repulsive image reminds us of our ugly past". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  5. ^ a b c Dupuy, Béatrice (30 November 2019). "How Black Friday became associated with sales". APNews. Associated Press. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  6. ^ "Black Friday". Facebook. 1 December 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  7. ^ Serino, Kenichi (24 November 2017). "Africans obsessed with Black Friday". Quartz. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  8. ^ a b Butterly, Amelia (28 November 2014). "Black Friday rumours and the truth about how it got its name". BBC. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  9. ^ Curet, Monique (1 December 2021). "Black Friday did not originate with the sale of enslaved people". PolitiFact. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  10. ^ Murphy Marcos, Coral (21 November 2021). "How Black Friday Got Its Name". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  11. ^ "No, 'Black Friday' did not originate during American slavery". Namibia Fact Check. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  12. ^ "'Black Friday' did not originate from selling slaves". PesaCheck. 27 November 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  13. ^ Varghese, Johnlee (30 November 2019). "Thanksgiving Fact Check: Who said 'Black Friday' is about selling of slaves?". International Business Times. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  14. ^ a b Pruitt, Sarah (17 November 2023) [23 November 2015]. "What's the Real History of Black Friday?". History. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  15. ^ Jespersen, Courtney (29 June 2016). "Just how good are Black Friday in July sales?". USA Today. Archived from the original on 3 July 2016. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  16. ^ Bird, Joe (20 November 2023). "Le Black Friday: How An American Tradition Spread Around The World". Forbes. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
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