As we noticed a recent flurry of “Black Friday” sales even though it’s sweltering out and there is no leftover turkey in our fridges, we began to wonder: have retailers finally lost their minds? Or, as one reader suggested, is a midsummer Black Friday sale just an inclusive version of the more traditional Christmas in July?

After all, not everyone celebrates Christmas, but almost everyone in this great country can celebrate a festival of unbridled commerce.

Spending seven hours outside in below-freezing temperatures does sound really good right about now, and Target tells us they’ve actually been doing this Black Friday promotion for a few years now. In a statement, a Target representative explained to Consumerist:

Target periodically sends promotions and deals to REDcard holders, and Bonus Black Friday is a savings event we’ve offered our guests for the past several years during July. While Bonus Black Friday isn’t intended to be a preview of traditional Black Friday offerings, we use it as an opportunity to share great deals that are exclusive to Target.com.

So, it’s pretty much a Christmas in July promotion. That makes sense. We prefer that to having it be a version of extreme Christmas Creep.

In case you missed it, here’s our poll from the earlier post:

PREVIOUSLY:
Okay, Great, So Black Friday Is July 12 Now
Now February and April Also Have Black Fridays

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