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Black FridayThe day after Thanksgiving, many retailers offer steep discounts for the American tradition of “Black Friday.” Though it’s not an official holiday, it’s still popular: US consumer spending is significantly higher on Black Friday than on any other day of the year. In the 1950s and ’60s, the Philadelphia police used the term “Black Friday” to describe the chaos that hit the city post-Thanksgiving for the Army-Navy football game (examples include increased traffic, crowds, and shoplifting). Some Philadelphia merchants tried calling the day “Big Friday” to remove its negative associations, but it didn’t stick. Another two decades would pass before the retailers of the 1980s spun “Black Friday” into a positive, saying that the holiday sales would help their earnings go from in the “red” (losing money) to “black” (profiting). On Black Friday 2024, US shoppers spent a record $10.8B on e-commerce purchases alone. In recent years, consumers have increasingly trended toward holiday shopping online rather than braving Black Friday’s famous in-person crowds.Explore Black Friday

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In 2024, Black Friday was observed in 129 countriesBrazilians adopted Black Friday in 2010. Today, 60% of Brazilians participate in the shopping event. Large corporations offering Black Friday sales in the US (like Amazon, for instance) began offering similar deals in places like the UK, spreading the holiday internationally. ICLS Some people are against Black Friday, saying it promotes consumerismThis comprehensive podcast video episode from NYU Professor Scott Galloway offers a deep dive into the economics of Black Friday, Galloway believes Black Friday allows corporations to exploit the worst parts of Americans’ consumerist impulses, and warns Americans should not believe purchasing things leads to greater happiness. The Prof G Pod – Scott Galloway Consumer spending accounts for 70% of US GDP, making Black Friday significantLizabeth Cohen, a history professor at Harvard and author of the book “A Consumer's Republic: The Politics Of Mass Consumption In Postwar America,” has argued that the US government has presented consumerism as a way out of economic crisis or decline since around World War II. NPR Online Black Friday shoppers spent over 10% more in 2024 than they did in 2023Online shoppers shelled out some $11.3M per minute between 10 am and 2 pm on Black Friday 2024, according to Adobe Analytics data. The $10.8B online shoppers spent on Black Friday 2024 was more than double the amount they spent online in 2017. NPR The term ‘Black Friday’ originally referred to a 1869 US gold market crashAfter financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk attempted to corner the US gold market, the market crashed on September 24, 1869, bankrupting thousands of investors and sending stock prices plummeting by 18%. That day became known as “Black Friday” long before the unofficial retail holiday emerged. CNN Many economists see Black Friday as a litmus test for consumer confidenceSome investors and analysts look at Black Friday’s sales numbers as a way to gauge the overall health of the retail industry—and consumer confidence at large. However, others don’t believe Black Friday results have a particularly significant impact on markets, arguing that the figures only cause short-term gains or losses. Investopedia JCPenney offers an average Black Friday discount of 59%—higher than most other US retailersThis data visualization ranks retailers like Target, Walmart, Macy’s, and more by who has the best Black Friday deals on average. Specifically, the visualization uses data from 13 major US retailers in 2023. Visual Capitalist About 69% of dangerous Black Friday incidents happen inside retail storesSome posit that this is because tensions tend to run high there as customers fight over a limited physical supply of discounted goods. Another 20% of incidents take place at store entrances, where long lines often form well before the retailer opens its doors. The Hustle There were roughly 17 Black Friday-related deaths and 125 injuries between 2006 and 2021A website called Black Friday Death Count or “BFDC” scrapes news headlines for Black Friday-related deaths and injuries reported around the world. It includes the overall count of Black-Friday related deaths, as well as the context for each of them. Black Friday Death Count Car crashes are 34% more frequent on Black Friday compared to other November daysBlack Friday anecdotes abound. Once, a mall dropped 500 gift certificates from the ceiling into a crowd of 2,000 Black Friday shoppers, who injured each other fighting for them. Another time, publishers of the game Cards Against Humanity convinced 11,000 shoppers to pay $5 for nothing. MoneyWise Screaming, running, and chaos in retailers like Walmart are the norm on Black FridayThis Black Friday episode from Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast features stories both from people who have worked behind the register on Black Friday and those who have stood in line at 4 am to score some deals. From police escorting violent shoppers competing over a discounted laptop computer out of the building, to a false-alarm emergency exit from a Dick's Sporting Goods, the episode is both harrowing and hilarious at times. Armchair Expert The Black Friday Archive collects Black Friday ads from the past 25 yearsThe archive features advertisements from notable retailers such as Bath & Body Works, Gap, and The Home Depot, among others. These ads span from the years 2000 to 2024, in addition to some from early holiday sales at Macy’s in 1963. Black Friday Archive American Express created 'Small Business Saturday' in 2010As small businesses across the US were still reeling from the Great Recession, American Express came up with the idea of "Small Business Saturday" to help drive consumer spending to small businesses. Small Business Saturday is the day after Black Friday. In 2011, the Senate passed a resolution supporting Small Business Saturday, and, since then, it's become nationally recognized. Explore real-life events linked to Friday the 13thThough no statistics support the idea that Friday the 13th is more unlucky than other dates, the myth persists. See a grim collection of unfortunate events that occurred on the date throughout history. Yahoo News Play food science trivia along with a former state trivia championFrom limitations in panda taste receptors and a surprising food that has been forged into diamonds to the origins of chili pepper heat and the Maillard reaction, test your knowledge during a game of Super Food Science Excellence Trivia Blowout. Science Friday Even brief physical activity can trigger the release of neurotransmitters that provide mental health boostsA couple of minutes of light walking or stretching can increase feelings of energy and reduce fatigue, not just through the release of endorphins. Exercise can also provide self-regulation and improve task engagement and focus in those with certain mental health disorders, like ADHD. Science Friday The earliest Advent was a Lent-like fast beginning Nov. 11In 490, Bishop Perpetuus of Tours ordered Christians to fast three days a week from St. Martin’s Day (Nov. 11) until Christmas. This 40-day season—called St. Martin’s Lent—is one of the earliest documented forms of Advent. OnePeterFive In 2024, the period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday saw 197 million shoppersSome argue Black Friday has gone from one day of the year, to two days of the year, including Cyber Monday sales, to, more recently, an entire week. In recent years, companies have offered steep discounts for a week at a time rather than just one or two days. USA Today The National Retail Federation coined the term ‘Cyber Monday’ in 2005As online-only retailers like Amazon expanded in the early 2000s, they sought ways to capitalize on Black Friday’s uptick in sales—but they didn’t actually have physical retail stores. Enter: Cyber Monday, a day that now competes with Black Friday for the highest e-commerce sales day of the year. NBC As of 2025, perfect synthetic replication of natural organs remains elusiveAdvancements such as 3D printing muscles, performing vaginal reconstruction with colon tissue, and growing organs in a lab have shown promise, but artificial options and transplanting substitutions continue to exhibit functional and performance limitations compared to their natural equivalents. Science Friday Georgia O’Keeffe was the most expensive female artist of all time from 2014 to 2025She earned the title posthumously with the $44.4M sale of 1932’s "Jimson Weed/White Flower No.1." Frida Kahlo took the title back in November 2025 for the sale of "El sueño (La cama)" for $54.6M. Barnebys Elizabeth I removed her eyebrows to draw attention to her chestThe queen thought that this kind of grooming (which sometimes even included shaving some of her forehead) would cause viewers to find her face blank and, as a result, look south to her breasts. The Conversation Immersive technologies are increasingly being used in medicine, retail, and educationMore accessible devices and user-friendly tools have increased the adoption of these technologies, which provide interactive, 3D environments that facilitate natural human learning. In 2018, Walmart purchased 17,000 VR headsets to train over a million employees in areas such as customer service and Black Friday preparation. TEDx Talks

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