Black Friday (shopping) stories resurface year upon year at this time, portraying hysteria and shortage of stock, creating a state of positive feedback. In 2014, spending volume on Black Friday fell for the first time since the 2008 recession. $50.9 billion was spent during the 4-day Black Friday weekend, down 11% from the previous year. However, the U.S. economy was not in a recession. Christmas creep has been cited as a factor in the diminishing importance of Black Friday, as many retailers now spread out their promotions over the entire months of November and December rather than concentrate them on a single shopping
Black Friday (South Park) amount of cut content from "", a video game which Parker and Stone were heavily involved in the development of. However, as the episode became more and more focused on "Game of Thrones" and Black Friday, the aspects which were lifted from the game were almost entirely scrapped. "Black Friday" received critical acclaim. Max Nicholson of IGN gave the episode a score of 8.7 out of 10, writing: "Cleverly fusing elements of the Next-Gen Console War with HBO's Game of Thrones, 'Black Friday' was easily one of the best "South Park" episodes we've seen in Season 17." Ryan McGee of