Are you ready for the Black Friday freakout?
As expected, its Black Friday — i.e., the day-after-Thanksgiving shopping orgy — and consumers across the country are pushing and shoving each other and otherwise coming completely unglued trying to get the good deals at the stores. This year, Black Friday even started on Thursday, Thanksgiving evening, in some brick-and-mortar stores.
The on-scene action across the country as expected is being captured by cell phone cameras.
A digression: Back when I was in high school, I worked at a snack bar at a beach. On Labor Day — the last day the fast-food joint was open — we would cook up all the remaining hot dogs and hamburgers and put them out on the counter for free. The beachgoers would then literally fight over the free food. It was quite a spectacle, somewhat disturbing in fact.
I had no idea at the time, but to some degree, this appears to be the precursor to Black Friday, which didn’t exist at the time as far as I recall.
Fast-forward to Black Friday 2012, and here is one of the first videos of shoppers pushing and shoving each other trying to get the on-sale merchandise, in the first instance apparently for inexpensive cell phones. Further videos will be added as they become available.
Do you think consumers are taking their Black Friday “enthusiasm” a bit too far? Are you joining in to the Black Friday insanity by searching for bargains at Walmart and other retail outlets today?
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Watch a Walmart Xbox melee: [iframe src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/w1Baf0G9gq0?rel=0″ width=”560″ height=”315″]
Walmart shoppers fight over $5 headphones and $2 towels:
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