Aside from Thanksgiving, one of the most awaited events at the end of November is Black Friday. From changing an entire wardrobe to buying the newest gadget, it is definitely the season to shop and spend.
Author of Breaking History: Vanished! Sarah Pruitt wrote in her article on History.com that the first recorded appearance of the name “Black Friday” was on Sept. 20, 1869. It was a tragic moment in terms of economics as speculators, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, bought the nation’s gold and sold it for huge profits, turning the whole Wall Street stock market bankrupt.
The students and faculty at Skyline College have varied opinions about Black Friday.
“Essentially, the Friday after Thanksgiving is generally a day off for a lot of people so it ended up turning into a de facto shopping day because Christmas is around the corner so corporations kind of jump on that as an opportunity to make even more money,” Lucia Lachmayr, Puente Coordinator and English and Reading Instructor, explained.
She added that she calls Black Friday her “Buy Nothing Day” in support of the groups that promote the idea of not supporting capitalism. The idea of “Buy Nothing Day,” according to National Day, was founded by Canadian artist, Ted Dave, to counteract materialism.
Meanwhile, an informal survey conducted by The Skyline View showed that 87.50% of the respondents are excited and even have a list of things that they wanted to buy, while the remaining 12.50% do not have anything to buy. Ironically, 62.50% of the respondents mentioned that they find the event irrelevant, while the remaining 37.50% says it is rarely relevant, or neutral about it.
Evan Horne, a geology student, said, “[It’s] not really [relevant] because the discounts are really bad.”
Max McCambridge also added that it is not important because there’s a lot of sales all over the year.
“I remember Black Friday sales being insane price differences, but nowadays it feels like they raise prices just before, then lower it again as a marketing tactic. Amazon is very guilty of this. It’s just not a respected consumer holiday anymore,” Karmela Luisa Madarang, an environmental studies student, explained.
Although some respondents are hesitant or unsure on what to buy, there are some who are excited at the cheap deals that Thanksgiving’s Black Friday brings every year.
