The History of Black Friday

That’s One Parade of Ads

The first advertising of sales after Thanksgiving was by Eaton’s, who found a brilliant way to bring attention to their brand, in the form of parades for the public. What once began as a Santa wagon through the streets of Toronto was adopted in 1924 by Macy’s, who had their first Thanksgiving Day Parade. This was in order to celebrate their company’s runaway success during the 1920s, and provided a boost in sales the following day.

That’s One Parade of Ads

At the time, retailers had an unspoken agreement to wait until after Thanksgiving to begin advertising for the holidays. As more and more workers started taking off to take advantage of sales, employers began to offer an additional paid holiday day to prepare in advance for the lack of manpower.