Black Friday is a marketing tactic in which the prices are lowered on goods to increase sales in time for the holidays. Every year, Black Friday falls on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day, which because of the timing, often overshadows Thanksgiving itself.

In defense of Black Friday, it offers a chance for people who are tight on money or prefer not to spend too much on gifts to get sale prices. I feel for a start, Black Friday should be at least a week after Thanksgiving to ensure the holiday isn’t overshadowed. Black Friday is not the only marketing scheme that overlooks Thanksgiving, the selling of Christmas products beginning Nov. 1 or earlier does so as well. Another problem with Black Friday is it puts a lot of stress on the people running the stores participating. Businesses will put tons of deals and regulations for Black Friday on the store without thinking of the people actually running the stores.

An idea that I feel would work much better than Black Friday which also evolves with the times is Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday is already a big event, but I think it should completely get rid of Black Friday. Cyber Monday should completely replace Black Friday. It’s online so it doesn’t put stress on the stores or cause chaos among shoppers, unlike Black Friday. Cyber Monday does have its fair share of problems, however, such as online credit card scams, bots that buy out all of the stock to resell at higher prices, shipping issues, and lastly, some of the people who would benefit the most from the sale prices don’t have access to the technology needed.

In conclusion, Black Friday comes with several issues that don’t exactly have black-and-white answers. However, Black Friday does have clear benefits such as buying gifts for the upcoming Christmas season and giving sale opportunities to those who need them.