Two weeks before Black Friday, my inbox teemed with promotional emails from stores I had never even heard of. Usually, I wouldn’t have given a second thought to deleting them, but this year I realized something: Black Friday had won me over. I waved a sad goodbye to my no-spending-until-winter-break goal. I’m pretty sure I clicked on 20 links on Friday morning, casually justifying three purchases because ‘I’ll need them for (some nonexistent but plausible) occasion.’ Whoops!
American Thanksgiving, though, has puzzled me from the beginning. The holiday symbolizes a time of gratitude, love, and appreciation for one another–but also endless spending. If you really think about it, Black Friday shopping holds a strange logic: the frantic shopping sprees somehow “compensate” for the hours of cooking, greeting long-lost cousins, small talk, and smiling for every relative’s camera that took place not even 24 hours ago.
What’s especially bizarre about this year is that spending surged despite inflation and rising costs. Thanks to advanced AI, it’s easy to hunt for enticing deals and coupons, such as “Buy Now, Pay Later” options and discount search services like “RetailMeNot.” So, maybe it’s no surprise that Americans spent $44 billion over Thanksgiving weekend–an 8% increase from 2024, according to the National Retail Federation. Clearly, few people reined in their Thanksgiving budgets. This holiday is too culturally entrenched and hyped-up for that.
I’m not against the adrenaline-pumping shopping-I’m a 4-year (and counting) participant myself-but Thanksgiving will forever remain a uniquely American capitalistic phenomenon. Back in Korea, there isn’t any holiday when intense personal shopping and family celebrations happen at once. The closest to Thanksgiving we have is Chuseok, a 3-day holiday to celebrate the autumn harvest festival, when families gather to honor their ancestors and enjoy traditional foods. Still, Chuseok never involved much shopping, or so I thought.
Recently, Korea began adopting America’s Black Friday traditions, boasting Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales and encouraging more gift-purchasing for ourselves. When I went back home over the recent break, there were discount signs everywhere, which got me wondering if this enthralling consumerist weekend is becoming a global phenomenon. Given how many countries that have already bought into Black Friday, I don’t think it’s impossible.
And just as Black Friday emails waned, the “Winter Sale Begins!” ads quietly knocked on my door, luring me down website rabbit holes of fluffy puffers or Snoopy-themed planners. To be completely honest, though, I’m probably going to have to warn my mom about soon-to-arrive notifications from her card company flagging ‘suspicious’ usage detected near Sheffield.
If I’ve learned anything during my 6 years in America, it’s that Thanksgiving simply turns the baton over to an even more exciting, extravagant holiday: Christmas! And what’s Christmas without a “little” bit of festive shopping, right?
