Consider how Europe and Australia counter tobacco ads by forcing them to put gross pics on the cartons, and blocking their ads from places where children would encounter them. It’s acknowledged that marketing works. If it didn’t work, it wouldn’t be used.
I don’t have a problem with govs regulating harmful ads. But at the risk of going on a tangent, I think the research shows that the sensational pics Europe and Australia actually proved to fail. Though it failed for reasons that wouldn’t apply to Black Friday. It was related to how the extreme pics stimulated a part of the brain that triggers smokers to want to smoke (or something like that).
Belgium and Netherlands, perhaps France already regulate sales. So at least in those places, why would it be “the wrong tool” to refine a tool that’s already in play?
Even if you banned sales the day after Thanksgiving, that’s not the issue
What would happen? If the absence of sales promotions would have no reduction of consumerism, why would retailers go to expense of organizing a sale and marketing it?