Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the USA.  Traditionally, it marked the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, and as such, retailers offered sales and discounts and whatnot for shoppers.  This set off an escalation of super-sales and early opening hours so dedicated shoppers could take advantage of them before the "good" things all were bought.  It's the busiest shopping day of the year, traditionally, and as the day after Thanksgiving is a national holiday as well, it's sort of become a permanent fixture in the national culture.

Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday in November. In most US companies, the next Friday is also a paid holiday, therefore it's a 4-day weekend for most Americans.

Thursday is traditionally dedicated to family get together and dinner (that's when the turkey bird shows up). This is pretty much the only day where almost all stores are closed throughout the USA (we were struck by that the first year we lived in California).

The day after (to compensate for one day sans shopping?), stores traditionally have a big sale event to attract shoppers on holidays and kick-off the Christmas buying season. This is called Black Friday, but it has really gotten out of proportion over the past years...

Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.

The black supposedly refers to writing black numbers (it's the day retailers tend(ed) to break even and start making profits for the year), but given recent years could as well be associated with serious injuries and death.

The story statistics do not tell: conditioning.

In the US people do not recognize the many means of self-expressions. Some are innoucous. Many more are commercial factors. Americans cannot be described stereotypically as being a creative people unless one admits the contributions of immigrants to "new" products and processes. The facts are given by demographic analyses: innovations derives from "naturalized" citizens, recruited. That pathogenic principle is evident in organizational arbitration (firm level). It is prosaic: solicitation of indifferent or impartial agents (consultants) to disrupt corporate conventions, not to mention any therapist engaged in family conflict.

The MSM sphere of influence over compulsive behavior includes named "national" events to which audiences respond. That response is unmitigated, arguably explained by broadcast consolidation of contents reproduction. "Black Friday" is one of these events or historicized phenomenon to which Americans are sentimentally attached. Although advertisers continuously implement price discounting 31 May - 30 Mar (two full quarters) to flush inventory-related impairments on earnings (ergo, leverage) in order to reconcile fiscal year reporting, American consumers are oblivious to future savings. (Otherwise "Black Friday" would occur in June.) Pavlov's dogs and rats did not calculate either.

My impression of this particular MSM item is that the reporters are aware, shoppers are desperate, not compulsive, due to commodity shortages. Either desperation or compulsive behaviors expressed like hysteria resembles chaos, incontinence, craziness, and death. The foregoing are apt descriptions of the sole alternative to law and order of Homeland Security, in general. It's all quite sordid, an excellent ad-rate multiple NOT multiplier. So shopper phobia could be "framed" as a problem to be managed to the extent monetary policies destroy the domestic economy and any semblance of a "bottom" analogous to corporate cost bases.

Yes, well, I've lived through another bizarre Thanksgiving holiday.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.