Collection: Black Week

Black Week starts on 21 November 2022

Before our Black Week kicks off, you can take a look at the Sale section where you will find lots of interesting products on sale!

What is Black Friday?

Black Friday is a global sales campaign originally started in the United States. Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States. During Black Friday, shops all over the world sell their products at significantly lower prices. Black Friday has also traditionally started the Christmas shopping season.

Shopping for a real need

Black Friday has stirred up discussion on the values related to consumption – which is a good thing. Some shops have taken a stand on overconsumption by closing their webstores during Black Friday.

We at The Arctic Pure also support responsible consumption behaviour and we wish that everyone would buy products only for a real need. Black Friday is a good chance to take care of Christmas shopping and to stock up on your own favourite products on affordable prices.

The history of Black Friday

Here is a brief overview on the history of Black Friday for the ones hungry for facts. ;)

The origins of name “Black Friday” goes back to the 19th century

Black Friday dates way more back than many people can guess. “The day after Thanksgiving”, or the day now known as Black Friday, was celebrated already at the end of the 19th century when president Lincoln ordered the holiday season to start from Thanksgiving. However, the name “Black Friday” was related to the rise of the price of gold followed by the stock market crash which happened during that time. As a result of the changes in the price of gold, the prices of commodities decreased even by 50 %.

The Thanksgiving parade commercialized the Friday after Thanksgiving

In 1905 the Canadian department store Eaton’s started the first Thanksgiving parade by bringing Santa Claus to the streets of Toronto in a carriage. In 1913 eight reindeer pulled Santa’s sleigh in the same parade. Inspired by Eaton’s, Macy’s started their own Thanksgiving parade in 1924 in New York which clearly managed to increase Christmas sales. A gentleman’s agreement between retailers was made that no one would advertise their Christmas sales before the legendary Christmas parade on Thanksgiving.

The Great Depression and Franksgiving

During the Great Depression in 1939 Thanksgiving was celebrated on the fifth week of November which automatically meant a shorter shopping season. Due to this many retailers gave warning of bankruptcy and demanded president Roosevelt to move Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November. Unfortunately the president reacted too late to the moving and many consumers had already made holiday plans based on the earlier date. Due to the incident, Thanksgiving was that year given the nickname “Franksgiving” according to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Only 32 states followed the moving request and some of the states celebrated Thanksgiving twice and as the result employees also got two days off. In 1941 the Congress decided that Thanksgiving would in the future be celebrated only on the fourth Thursday of November.

Shopping on sick leave

In 1950 a phenomenon arose in which people called in sick for work to get Friday off and to get a four-day weekend. Many of them spent that Friday shopping. This resulted in many companies deciding to make the Friday after Thanksgiving a paid holiday for all their employees.

How was Black Friday visible in police work?

In 1966 the Philadelphia police department used the name “Black Friday” in their famous print campaign to depict the traffic jams near the shopping areas in the city center, caused by the Christmas shopping mania.

The Black Friday meme was not true after all

In 2014 a meme was created of Black Friday according to which slavers had sold slaves at a cheaper price on the Friday after Thanksgiving. However, the story turned out to be just a myth.