I've been getting it wrong. When I read the phrase 'black friday' I thought that somehow, some marketing wonk had found out that this particular friday was the worst day for sales throughout the year. As a consequence of that fact, I thought that the stores were just putting on a one-time sale to prop up their figures. But I was wrong. So very wrong.
The idea was probably dreamt up by some marketing wonk but the idea is to give consumers the chance to squander their austerity shrunken wedge on a one-off consumer splurge so that, when Christmas comes around, they will be even more broke or in debt than they were before. Brilliant.
Not only is the idea brilliant but, going by the news today, the idiots were out in their droves, kicking and gouging their fellow men and women i order to get their hands on the latest flat-screen TV that will be discounted to next to nothing by next February, when the next 'New version' of the same flat screen TV will be rammed down their throats by the same cynical bastards who did the ramming today.
It reminds me of almost any of Ralph Steadman's drawings:
And, as you might have guessed, the idea originated in the United States of Consumerism.
PS Have a look at Ralph Steadman's work here or almost anywhere on Google