How things become "Things"

I don't know quite what to call them but I am fascinated by "unintended special events." That's a horrible term, but I'm referring to things that became "Things" accidentally. This is hard to explain so I'll just start giving some examples.

Black Friday
The first day after Thanksgiving has long been deemed "black Friday" by retailers (which means black as in, "in the black" -- making profit). But there was never some universal decision to make this a special day. I can't give a particularly knowledgeable history here but my best guess is that this became "black Friday" completely by accident. Over the years, as a consumer focus on Christmas shopping became more prevalent, I think we as a society moved more and more toward a "holiday to holiday" mindset. The stores stock items relevant to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas in successive order, and the combination of Thanksgiving being over and most people having that Friday off from work turned that day into an ideal shopping day. Retailers capitalized on this, creating special sales, and the process fed on itself until the day became a shopping event. This year it got particularly crazy with one person at a Wal-Mart trampled to death and gunfire at a Toys 'R' Us. But when it comes down to it, there is no particular reason for this to be a special event. It is a byproduct of the holiday calendar and consumer marketing.

Superbowl Ads
By most standards, TV commercials are an annoyance -- they're something we put up with because they fund the networks that provide us with hours of (ostensible) entertainment. But now watching the Superbowl specifically for the commercials has become a national pastime. Much like Black Friday, this was an event that fed upon itself. Knowing the huge audience for the Superbowl, and the limited attention spans of viewers, companies put more and more effort into making their Superbowl ads stand out. As the audience got wise to this, they became more discerning, comparing the ads against each other, turning the event into the competition for the best Superbowl ad of the year. The free press (and today, re-viewing on sites like YouTube) often make the multi-million dollar investments for 30 seconds of airtime into cultural touchstones. Today, some people who don't even care about the Superbowl itself still watch just to see the ads -- something virtually no other program can lay claim to.

Red Carpet Fashion
The purpose of awards shows like the Oscars is to, well, give awards to the best films (or music, or TV, etc.) of the year, and to drum up some publicity and ticket sales in the process. But it was never the stated intent of such shows to promote fashion. But as more and more stars took the opportunity to look their best on Oscar day, the reporters on the red carpet in turn paid more notice to their clothes, and now many networks and publications give their own awards for "best dressed." Joan Rivers in particular has made "who are you wearing?" a key question on the red carpet. (It's worth noting that the term "red carpet" itself is a thing-turned-"Thing" -- it was only through the repeated use of red carpets on the walkways into awards halls that it came to be synonymous with awards shows and premieres.)

There are certainly more examples, but I love thinking about how these unexpected turns happen. There are a ton on the internet alone -- LOLspeak, viral marketing -- and I think it's important to distinguish this from "memes," which are brief trends that everyone knows about for a few months but soon die away. I may post a part 2 soon but I like being reminded that no matter how shrewd a marketer or advertiser may think he/she is, ultimately the biggest trends occur through a series of unplannable accidents.