What’s with Black Friday?

Ah, Black Friday. Yet another import from the land of supersized sodas and reality TV presidents. Like Halloween before it, this curious American tradition has floated across the Pacific and set up shop in Australia, leaving many of us scratching our heads and wondering: what exactly are we celebrating here?

Let’s get one thing straight—Black Friday isn’t even a public holiday in its homeland. Nope, it’s just the day after Thanksgiving, a distinctly American feast where they give thanks for things like family, pumpkin pie, and the fact that they’re not still ruled by the British. Thanksgiving, of course, means nothing to us Aussies. So why on earth have we started buying into the frenzy that follows it?

The whole thing smacks of opportunism. Retailers dangle discounts like shiny bait, and suddenly we’re all diving into shopping carts like seagulls after a chip. Never mind that we don’t have Thanksgiving—nor its obligatory post-turkey nap to fuel the bargain hunt. No, we’re just here for the sales, thanks very much. It's like getting excited about Boxing Day without having had Christmas.

And what’s with the name? “Black Friday” sounds ominous. Turns out, back in the 1860s, “Black Friday” was coined to describe a financial disaster when some blokes tried to manipulate the U.S. gold market, and it all went pear-shaped. Then, in the 1950s, it got repurposed by frazzled Philadelphia police dealing with post-Thanksgiving chaos: jammed traffic, unruly shoppers, and football fans turning the city into a madhouse. The name stuck, though it wasn’t exactly flattering.

Naturally, retailers in the 1980s decided to flip the script. “Black” became a good thing—a sign that businesses were finally turning a profit. Marketing teams clapped their hands and declared it the start of the holiday shopping season. But does that logic even apply here? Do Aussie retailers really need an American-made excuse to flog us half-price kettles and marked-down yoga mats? And why November? Our “holiday shopping season” is more about cricket matches, beach days, and avoiding car parks in December than it is about frantic November sales.

Here’s the thing, though—Black Friday has caught on here, much like Halloween did. At first, we rolled our eyes. “Who needs this?” we said. “We’ve got the Boxing Day sales!” But then those tempting ads started popping up: discounted TVs, half-price sneakers, and “doorbuster” deals (whatever they are). And before we knew it, we were clicking “add to cart” faster than you can say “un-Australian.”

Let’s not pretend we’re above it. Aussies love a bargain as much as anyone. But there’s something undeniably weird about participating in a tradition so divorced from our own culture. It’s like cracking open a pumpkin and carving it into a spooky face in 30-degree heat or bobbing for apples when mango season’s in full swing. We’ll do it, sure—but we might be rolling our eyes while we do.

So here we are, watching Black Friday take over like a cheerful but slightly obnoxious house guest. It’s not bad, per se—it’s just… unnecessary. But hey, if it means scoring a new air fryer at a discount, maybe we’ll look the other way. After all, isn’t that what we do best? Shrug, roll with it, and quietly mutter, “Only in America…” while we grab a bargain.