Marketers 1: Gullible People 0

Black Friday. It's American. And it isn't even named for retailers being in the black. Read this article and you'll see history has been rewritten.

Here it is in 2014 foisted upon us in the UK. You might get some bargains. I've got good deals on software on Amazon. On the other hand I could have bought paint Shop Pro X7 - which arrived today - cheaper from the manufacturers. Silly me. What you might get instead of bargains is an old version of that TV/Camera/tablet and then kick yourself when a new one comes out in a few weeks' time. A fool and his money are soon parted.

Is it a good idea for the shops? Not necessarily. What happens next year when people wait for Black Friday and sales fall in the early part of November? Cash flow is king when you're a retailer, not profit.

We're stuck with it now. It's part of our culture like all the Halloween junk and, as with the alleged Halloween "traditions" (sorry, kids, if I don't remember it as a child then it's not tradition ...), the great British public is conned into thinking we've had it for years. We haven't. Even Amazon only started it a couple of years ago and they were the forerunners in the UK. No doubt those people believe Father Christmas has always been called Santa too.

There will always be daft gullible people and the marketers laugh at them. I mean that literally. I've been in marketing meetings where ad executives have laughed at the prospect of "They'll go for that, no problem" "They can't touch us, we'll convince them it's about the charity" They're laughing at those people who think Sainsbury's aren't selling anything in their tacky disrespectful Christmas ad. All the Christmas ads are about brand recognition and all want you in the stores. Obviously. Why do you think someone at John Lewis is in trouble for not ordering another half a million toy penguins? I'll hold my hand up and say I love that ad, by the way.

Any TV ad, any marketing email, anything convincing you subliminally that Black Friday is a traditional fun shopping day - it's SELLING to you. It's not a difficult concept to grasp. Caveat emptor.