“Black is the new colour of savings”
A curious name for a sales event: Black Friday — not exactly a festive expression.
As often happens, both the name and the phenomenon have several possible origins, with no single, definitive one.
The most widely accepted theory dates back to the early 1960s: the day after Thanksgiving, the city of Philadelphia came to a standstill — traffic jams, crowded stores, and hordes of football fans arriving for a big game. For local police officers, it truly was a black Friday — and that’s how the name may have come about.
A more “romantic” explanation points to the bookkeeping of retailers, who after months of losses (red numbers) finally went into the black thanks to the start of the Christmas shopping season.
Other accounts trace the concept of a discount day back even further, to 1924, when Macy’s — the famous U.S. department store — launched special sales to mark the beginning of holiday shopping.
From city traffic to online traffic
Today, promotions no longer last just a day. They start weeks in advance, often as early as early November, with the now familiar early deals.
With the unstoppable rise of e-commerce, city traffic has turned into online traffic. Everything’s gone digital: from queues outside stores to the fastest click to grab a deal; from checkout lines to virtual carts.
The language that sells — and sometimes wears thin
Sales are great, but how are they communicated?
Advertising claims, newsletters, banners — everything around us plays with words that spark urgency, exclusivity, and fear of missing out: “Last chance,” “Best price ever,” “Only today,” “Don’t miss out.” Sounds familiar?
When marketing takes the stage, words don’t just inform — they persuade.
They create desire, and they trigger the fear of missing out. But while this language works, it can also become hollow and exhausting.
Knowing your audience — and speaking to what they truly need — is the real challenge.
Repeating the same slogans as everyone else doesn’t make your message stronger. It makes it disappear.
It sounds simple but doing it well is anything but.
Tone of voice
For those of us who work with words, even Black Friday is an opportunity to reflect on the language of persuasion.
It’s a reminder of how crucial it is to write, translate and localize every message precisely: a claim that speaks to the right audience can make all the difference.
It’s not just about discounts — it’s about tone of voice and communication.
It comes around every year, changes form, starts earlier, yet remains the same: a massive communication exercise.
And amid all the noise, the real winners are those who choose their words wisely.
