Woman pepper-sprays rival bargain hunters.  So what is ‘Black Friday’?

I don’t think this term had really crossed over the Atlantic and into our consciousness until a few years ago. Black Friday is both a date (it follows the American Thanksgiving festival, and marks the traditional start to Christmas shopping) but it is also a business occasion. Retailers try to create a buzz with significant discounts to draw in customers. But the ‘black’ bit comes from the phrase ‘being in the black’. When you stop being ‘in the red’ you are getting out of debt. Being ‘in the black’ means to have a financial surplus, or profit.

Stated simply, Black Friday is said to be the day in the calendar year when US retailers have covered all their fixed costs and achieved break even. They are in the black. Now the race is on to secure a healthy level of contribution towards profit before the end of the year.

Read on for photos of stampedes, accounts of pepper-spraying crazy ladies etc.

According to The Guardian, shoppers in the US kicked off their annual “Black Friday” orgy of consumerism amid scenes of pushing, pulling, running and – in one case – pepper-spraying their way through the doors of the nation’s shops and malls. The annual tradition, when many stores open early with cut-price sales on the day after Thanksgiving, has become a source of controversy amid frequent scenes of near-rioting and injuries as mobs of people crowd into big-name shops. Perhaps that’s why this is always a popular story in the UK – it’s a reminder that we are not the only riotous nation on earth.

But few can have expected even the most determined of bargain-hunters to adopt the brutal tactics of one female shopper in a Los Angeles suburb who attacked her rivals with pepper-spray. At least 20 people, including several children, were injured as the woman deployed her weapon. The maniac was buying an X-box, apparently. In recent years, as media coverage of the event has grown and scenes of rioting and stampedes have become more common, Black Friday has drawn its share of criticism. I would expect to see a backlash before long. Already, shoppers in some parts of America have also been joined by protesters from the ‘occupy’ movement have been trying to persuade them to put down their bags and go home, or at least avoid large chains and shop smaller and more locally.