Auld Ma TwəggAs an Australian the phrase "Black Friday" is associated with horrific, fatal bushfires, which makes the recent adoption of "Black Friday Sales" by local shops pretty weird.
It's not, like, offensive — Black Friday was a long time ago — it's just there's a pre-existing cultural association with death and destruction. It's like if businesses in America started having San Francisco Fire of 1851 sales. It's just disconcerting and odd.
Catherine Cowie@quinsibell As you say, the horrific bushfires were so long ago that few people remember them, so I guess some retail stores don’t care if a niche of the public finds the reappropriation of the term for a sale somewhat odd and in bad taste. (Since when have advertisers cared about bad taste? Never.)